012 - Second Year (Bored now, next year please!)
The next day I'm a bit apprehensive about meeting Karin. Will she be scared of me now that she's had time to process what happened yesterday? Will she avoid me today? I mean, shinobi culture or not, to just up and maim a fellow student for an insult isn't something you see every day.
… And I still fail at being sorry about it. Stupid Shimada blood.
So maybe my greetings are a bit hesitant that day, and maybe her answer is even more subdued than usual. The whole day she avoids talking, but also goes out of her way to remain close, sending nervous looks my way all the while. Is that what they mean by 'getting mixed signals'? Not sure what to think, I tell myself she's still grieving her father and it's understandable that she doesn't feel like talking.
At least the rest of the kids give me a wide berth. That's right, fear me! For I've become Death, Gouger of Orbs!
Things come to a close when the last bell rings, and Karin grabs my sleeve before I can stand up. She's acting extra nervous and hesitant, but there's also a glint in her eyes I can't identify when she manages to look straight at me. Is she mad? Is she going to break up with me? Is she so afraid of my reaction she doesn't even know how to put it? I never wanted to scare her off!
"Um… I told Mama about yesterday and…" And she told her to keep the hell away from the crazy murderous girl. I… I can understand. It hurts, but I can't afford to do anything stupid now and scare her even worse, it's my fault and mine alone tha— "And she said it's fine to go play with you in the evenings! She'll come pick me up at your home when she's done for the day."
I… what? Couldn't she have said that in the morning?
"That is… um… If you'd still have me?" She fidgets nervously, but doesn't release her grip on my clothes. "I'll understand if you're angry with me after all…."
"Yes!" I might put a bit more emphasis than intended, but I refuse to blush. "Mother left on a Mission today, so it'll be just us and my tutors, and obaa-san has me doing boring things the whole evening but now that you're here I'm sure we can make the most out of our time and— I mean, of course I'll have you, Karin, it'll be my pleasure to entertain you from now on."
… I said I'm not blushing, saddap!
"That's all nice and well, Shimada, Uzumaki." Narutaki-sensei's voice drags me out of my self-denial world. "But I seem to remember one of you has a couple hours of detention before she can leave for the day."
Ugh… yeah… that. Consequences. I'm not about to renege on them, especially when I think they're well-deserved. Double specially when it's the first chance to prove my resolve, and I don't want to imagine the disappointed look Mother will send my way if I even dream of trying to weasel out of this.
But man, does it have a horrible timing…
"Maybe I can… stay?" Karin seems to surprise herself by interjecting, and visibly shrinks when we turn our attention to her. "It would be like extra credit? Sensei said I need to do a lot of studying to catch up with the class..."
That's it! Nice going, Karin! Narutaki-sensei seems hesitant to accept the proposal, so I give him my best pitiful look so he knows how important this is to me, it seems to be effective.
After much humming and hemming, he finally takes pity on our plight and allows for Karin to stay. Or, as he puts it, he's not going to 'keep a young lady from devoting extra time to studying out of her own initiative'.
Can't believe I was angry with him about not stopping the bullying. Clearly he's doing all he can and it's just that nameless chunin don't want to risk openly acting against Ryūzetsu's family in this village. Yeah, that makes sense. Sometimes I forget how much Mother's name covers my ass.
Detention turns out to be a fairly subdued business. Narutaki-sensei leads us to a classroom with some other brats from different years. Sensei talks with three slightly older brats that apparently are going to be watching over us. Must be a genin team. Huh, so this is how shitty D-ranks work in Grass? Good to know.
Narutaki leaves some theoretical work for us to go through and leaves the place, presumably to have a well deserved break. Or maybe drown his stress on alcohol. Poor guy has been looking more and more harried since the year began, no trace of the bright-eyed enthusiastic newbie he was last year.
One of the genin lets out a whistle after spying my assignments over my shoulder. Rude… "Right, we've been assigned here for just two hours." He announces. "I don't care how hard your assignments are or how much you've pissed your sensei, you have until we leave to finish. I don't want to hear any complaints if you're not done by then!"
His face when I finished in twenty minutes was glorious, I wish I had a camera. For a moment, he looks at his two partners, and the three of them seem to flounce about what to do with me. If I was a suspicious girl I would think the assignments weren't intended to be finished in the allotted time.
...Jerks.
In the end they declare I should self-study and that 'you brat better don't get up to any trouble, you hear?'. Holding back the eye roll until I've turned away from them takes a supreme effort of will. Then, after an hour of detention, Karin finishes her own assignments and the trio's groan has the whole room explode in laughter.
All in all it wasn't a bad use of two hours. Might even miss this once I'm done with detentions.
Then we're finally released, and Karin throws me a nervous smile before letting me take the lead. As we walk the path home I can't help but feel a teensy bit nervous myself. This is the first time Karin visits home. Will she find it boring? It's quite the big place, and there are only two residents, with Mother barely being there at all. Katekyo A and B do try to fill in when they're around and it's appreciated, but it's just not the same.
How am I supposed to even introduce them? 'Karin, this is nee-san. She teaches me how to mix poison, also has a killer pudding recipe. But she's not really my nee-san. And the pudding doesn't actually kill.' or 'Karin, this is obaa-san. She teaches me how to blow shit up with a brush and an inkwell. But she's not really me obaa-san. And doesn't actually let me blow anything up.'. Yeah, doesn't sound great in my mind either.
Distracted with that, I only realize we're already there when Karin asks about the handseals I'm performing in front of the entrance. She makes a strange face when I explain to her I'm deactivating the anti-theft measures. I wonder why? She's already told me she used to travel the land, and her mom is an Uzumaki, no way this is her first experience with security seals.
A note from Katekyo A explaining she's got some urgent business and apologising for cancelling today's session in such a short notice has me discreetly pumping a fist where no one can see. This way I can show off properly without anyone getting on my case about my studies. Still, Karin is acting painfully shy about visiting.
Even I can't miss the tells when she's doing things like following me to the kitchen instead of staying in my room when I go to make snacks or leaving my side exactly once, to use the toilet. I don't really mind her keeping close, but I sure hope she grows used to this place and relaxes a bit soon.
To that effect, I shift through half-forgotten memories from a lifetime ago, scrambling to find some games Karin might enjoy playing with me. Hand-eye coordination games with ankle bones or peebles, skipping with an improvised rope or jumping around with various playground games I never thought I'd see again.
It doesn't work as well as I'd hope, and have to cheat -so I lose- fairly often, but I'd like to believe it's having some effect. Good! That way, when I inevitably mess up in the future, it won't be a death sentence to our friendship… Speaking of death sentences… that reminds me Karin hasn't met Mother yet.
I struggle to imagine a scenario where that goes well.
I'll never understand how the schoolyard food chain works. Never understood it in my first life, never understood it here. When I was alone, all it took was a handful of sharp comments and maybe reducing someone to tears with words alone for everybody to keep out of my face. I was outside the chain altogether.
But now that I'm defending Karin, they're convinced I've grown soft and not even causing grievous permanent harm is enough to get them to back off for long. They act like stupid flies buzzing around a horse on a hot day, quick to disperse when confronted but equally quick to come back, as if they just forgot the results of their previous attempts in a matter of hours.
Unfortunately, after another couple of violent -if far more subdued than Cyclops-chan incident- squabbles, the Academy has run out of reasonable methods of punishment. If I'm caught in something else, I'll be pulled out of the program. Funny how that would've sounded fantastic a year ago, but now I'm emotionally invested in Karin. Now that I mention it, didn't I at some point resolve to not befriend her? What happened with my willpower?
In any case, I had to switch tactics. Training incidents happen everywhere, and if they all seem to befall the most unpleasant individuals in the class… well, it couldn't have happened to a better guy. And if it so happens I stared down the victim making sure he or she sees my vicious smirk… Well, I'm a resentful bitch and I can't bother feigning sorry about someone I don't like, that's just life.
I would say their attempts utterly failed at bothering me, but that's not actually true. Because I don't feel like leaving Karin alone with this swarm of flies, I was forced to drop my advanced classes to remain with her. That did bother me. Sure, I still got the advanced assignments and tried to get by with self-study, but it's simply not the same.
I was forced to slow down, because I didn't ask for help when I had the chance.
Stupid Shim—
Actually, that means I had the whole day with Karin. Good job, Shimada blood!
Between punishments and celebrations, it takes a good couple of months for things to settle into a new routine.
In the mornings, assuming Mother is out on a mission, I wake up to do my morning practice before making breakfast and packing a bento for the day. Then off to school I go. When Mother is at home though, I'm woken up to do my hellish morning practice instead. At least Mother takes pity on me and cooks herself those days.
If nothing else this routine seems to get Mother into cooking. At some point I caught her sealing a shepherd's pie into a scroll while preparing for a mission. It warms one's heart to know one's family is finally eating properly.
On a normal day classes start by meeting Karin at the entrance, and we go through there depending on the day's plan. The idea to go pick her up at home in the mornings was tempting, but we already spend most of the day with her and don't want to be creepy.
Is it normal for girlfriends to do everything together at this age? I seem to remember something along those lines form my last life, but… well, you know, blurry memories and all that. Don't even know if that's first hand knowledge or just urban legends, so practically blazing a new trail here.
Anyway theoretical classes are kind of a mix. We have at one side the classes I used to take advanced lessons in, where I now ignore the world around me to go through material far too advanced for Karin to follow while she focuses on the teacher's lesson.
On the other hand, we have the lessons where I have to pay attention. I now have someone who listens when I poke holes through inconsistencies and brainwashing. Karin's reactions shift between scandalized and amused, and as hard as she tries to keep a serious and respectful face at the Academy, I'm proud to say I get some snorts out of her from time to time.
Uh… don't you misunderstand anything, we haven't earned extra detentions for acting out in class. I can learn from my mistakes, thank you very much. All of this is done with a generous sprinkle of tolerance towards my classmates' antics. Or taking note of those I don't feel like tolerating for some sweet payback during sparring lessons.
Physical is a bit different, because it's clear Karin can't keep up and needs some help not to lower her overall scores. That's fine by me, it keeps me occupied during otherwise dull classes. After training with Mother, 90% of the Academy physicals feel like a joke to me. Not to offend, but playing the onee-sama role for a cutie cuddly redheaded brainiac is a better use of my time.
The ten percent I actually have to pay attention to are my spars with Muku. Have I mentioned lately how much of a monster the guy is? Sometimes I feel like I have to risk life and limb just to pull off a draw. From time to time Ryūzetsu insists on sparring with me, something that never happens without her input. I have to assume she's pressured the teachers into some arrangement where she only fights me when she feels she has a good chance.
She's… she puts up a fight. Certainly better than the rest of the class. But she has nothing on Muku. I take great pleasure in reminding her that her boyfriend is both stronger and cuter than her. Vindictive you say? No idea what you're talking about.
This year I have a grievous enemy I have to defeat. And that means any underhanded method I can get my grubby, childish hands on are fair game. For you see, nothing less than my prodigiousness at full power stands even the slightest chance to succeed against this titanic quest. But that matters not! Because I'm determined to make others suffer any indignity and carry any reasonable burden for this worthy goal!
Yeah, No matter what we're going to properly celebrate Mother's birthday this year.
Oh, sure, laugh it up! Shall I remind you how things went last year? I wasn't even there when she opened my gift! She was out the whole day! And it'll have to be a surprise, because there's no point otherwise.
So this requires careful planning and daring maneuvering. How do you tie down a workaholic like Mother without ruining the surprise party in the process? Some would go through half-cooked plans to draw her attention with other events, or try to abuse her trust by feigning sickness so she'd remain by their side.
That last one wouldn't have worked anyway, I haven't been sick a single day in my life, so she wouldn't buy it.
… Stupid Shimada blood.
Anyway! I'm a real predator. I study the prey and figure out the striking points with a highest chance of success. I don't waste time on overly elaborate plans that have a thousand points of failure, but rather go for that single, critical chance that allows me to sever the problem in one blow. I go for the weakest link.
Like a true shinobi!
So I dress in my cutest outfit and go see the lady in the mission office, then ask her to pretty please 'give my mama a mission that won't keep her away from the village that day'. Obviously, she laughs in my face. 'Cute' just doesn't work on me. Plan B it is.
… I'm not ashamed to admit I dragged Karin with me and made her ask on my behalf after my own failure. Worked like a charm, too. Nobody can resist those huge eyes tearing up. Well, nobody with a soul, I haven't forgotten the state she arrived at the academy. Still owe a beating to someone for that.
After we're done with that and I've had a talk with a certain pottery for this year's gift, we stumble with the problem of Karin not having her own allowance to get a gift. I have to fight down a smile at that, it won't do for her to misunderstand and think I'm happy about her financial situation.
It's just that Karin has this... 'minion' feeling around her, you know? Following my lead everywhere and in everything, shy and insecure, and never speaking for herself. I'm not happy about it, but I don't have the heart to throw her into the deep end so she learns some independence either.
Hearing she wants to get her own gift for Mother instead of just helping me with mine warms the heart. Especially because I'm half-convinced Mother scares Karin to death.
Fortunately, I have wisdom beyond my years, coming from a life before life! When a nine years old wants to make a gift for an adult, spending money is not the usual way to go about it. So I take Karin on a binge through Kusa's many gardens, which are a smorgasbord of beautiful flowers to make a bouquet with.
We might've gotten into trouble because picking flowers from public gardens isn't strictly legal.
We might've dodged the trouble with liberal use of smoke bombs and running for our lives.
We might've arrived home with barely enough time to get everything ready before Mother herself arrived.
"I'm home." Mother calls from the entrance, exactly loud enough for her voice to carry to us.
"Welcome home!" I call back, hurriedly straightening up the lighted candles on the cake and giving the finishing touches to the table.
I have no idea how old Mother is, that's something I never had the courage to ask, so instead they're letter candles reading '#1 Mom'. As soon as she enters the room the both of you are ready for her.
"Happy Birthday Mother!"
"Happy Birthday, Shimada-sama!"
It only lasts an instant, and she's quick to go back to normal and thanking us for the party. For someone not used to Mother, it would've been nothing. But it doesn't escape me how she froze for an instant at the scene. Damn woman forgot about her birthday again!
Things don't really get animated, because Karin still doesn't feel very confident around Mother and 'animated' just isn't the way things work around Mother anyway, but we still have a nice enough snack dinner, topped up with my best peach and lily cake. And lemme tell you, detoxifying the lilies without ruining the flavour wasn't fun.
… Mother's favorite, don't ask.
When it comes to presents, she unwraps my gift to find a '#1 Mom' soup bowl. This has her sending an unamused look my way, that I can't help but answer with a tiny smirk full of smugness. Time to start taking your broth the proper way, woman!
I'm a bit upset when, instead of putting Karin's bouquet into a vase. she hangs it upside down. It's her day though, if Mother wants to upset my best friend for Mother reasons I don't really understand, then I don't have to like it, but I'm not going to act out either.
Turns out, it's a good thing I didn't. Because a week later we came home to find the bouquet, now dried and preserved, resting proud in an honor place in the living room. They'll easily last ten times longer than fresh, and Karin couldn't stop smiling the whole evening, but Mother sure could've explained her plans right from the start.
The year continued without any big upset and, before I knew, it was Summer again.
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