so i think we all conveniently forgot that kakashi started school at four (4) years old. and kishi tells me that everyone also did? f*** kishi's canon. you enter kindergarten at 4. you can barely run in a straight line without falling over at 4. in the spirit of reconciliation, I have made the Ninja Academy the village's kindergarten/daycare/primary school, and yes, this place does not offer further schooling.

The Academy — III

I wasn't sure whether Kakashi was mercilessly calculative or just lucked out. Because of his injury keeping Sakumo house-bound for longer than the usual three or four days he spent between deployments, he was hounded by Kakashi almost day and night.

I, for my part, kept well clear of the blast zone, which was the kitchen, living room, and Sakumo's study.

Day three of Kakashi's siege to get into the academy at the tender young age of four, he cornered me after I missed breakfast. I hadn't really made an effort to avoid the two — it was performative, a silent 'don't involve me' signal — and was planning to grab breakfast after the father and son had carried their conversation elsewhere, when I walked into the kitchen, started rifling through shelves for food, and Kakashi cleared his throat.

I whirled around, smacking an elbow into the door of a cupboard. "Ow," I said, clutching my arm.

"I know what you're doing," he said, accusingly. "I can't believe you're not backing me up. Do you know what other kids our age are doing?"

I shook my head, resigned to having this conversation. "How would I know? Playing tag, I suppose."

That wasn't the response he wanted, and he scowled, crossing his arms. "They're out there, running around and tripping over their own feet and crying in the playground and making a fool of themselves!"

"They're four years old, Kakashi, and so are you."

"So are you!" he shot back, then suddenly seemed less certain. "Right?"

I had gone to the fridge for cheese. I shrugged, back to him. "Probably. Is it important?" I could hear his exasperation, and I grinned to myself. I was four years old, I think. Without the constant supervision of adults, I've been letting the facade slip a little, and I wondered what Kakashi was thinking.

"Whatever," he said, finally. "The point was kids our age are stupid. Shallow. And if we don't do something with our time Dad is going to force us to socialize."

"We?" I shot him an incredulous look, my sandwich half-assembled.

"Yeah. I want you to come with me."

I gave him my full attention. "You want me to go to school?" Urgh, I have to go back to school so soon? I had expected at least another two or three years before I was funneled into the shinobi assembly line.

"I thought you'd be happier," he said, sounding genuinely baffled. "You're not bored, shut up in the house?" His eyes widened. "Wait. This is the real reason you're avoiding me and Dad?"

"Hold on, pause." I held up my hands. "Go back to the 'forcing us to socialize' thing. There's a pro-and-con here I'm not seeing. And come to the table, having this conversation across the room is unnecessary, plus I need to eat."

After we settled and I took a bite of my sandwich, I gestured for him to begin.

"You remember how at the party last week, there was that sleepy kid with Biwako-sama?"

Vaguely. "Uh-huh."

"Before you arrived, Dad tried to set up a playdate for us and a bunch of other clan children."

"You poor soul."

"Yeah," he said, grimacing. "It was a terrible day. And if Dad thinks I'm getting lonely or whatever, he'll make me do another. You, too, probably." He fixed me with a stern look. "From how little I see of you in this house, I really doubt you'd like it."

I made a face. "You were right to doubt. So this is it, the big reason why you want to go to school— what's the normal enrollment age for this academy?"

"Six."

"—the real reason you want to go to school two years before anyone else?"

"It's one of it," he said, the reached across the table to steal the last bit of lettuce on my plate. I let it go without fuss. "The other is I want to become a shinobi and help Dad around the house."

I winced, and got a curious look in return. He obviously didn't mean that statement the same way I took it, but it was a reminder of the grim reality that I'd been ignoring. Sakumo was the only person paying the bills around here, and while I had no familiarity with shinobi wages, it couldn't have been easy on him. For me to baulk at something so insignificant as the prospect of homework when he was out there, risking his life, trading time with his kid for putting food on the table…

Sakumo really was a good person.

And really, if I applied myself, maybe I won't die so quick on the battlefield. There were three tiers of this shinobi business, weren't there? Maybe I can find a good excuse to go into some civilian trade before I got in too deep. Whatever the real motive behind my adoption, Sakumo didn't have to. He didn't have to give me a bed and a roof and companionship. I could've been a lab experiment. My life could've been so much worse.

Sakumo showed me compassion, and it was the least I could do to earn my keep. And keep his son from diving head first into the workaholic lifestyle, by the looks of it. (Entering school at the age of four. He's crazy.)

I sighed heavily, pushing away from the table in the same moment. "Fine. Next time you corner your dad you can throw my name in, too."

"Wow," Kakashi said, looking at me strangely. "I didn't know your sense of duty was this strong."

I narrowed my eyes and reigned in the defensiveness that was bubbling up. "Now you know." I wasn't surprised he connected the dots to what really inspired me to change my mind.

I felt his eyes on me as I washed the plate and put it back on the rack.

"You'll try your best in school, then?" he asked.

"If I'm smart enough," I replied, feeling short-tempered. "When are we going to enroll?"

"Next spring."

"Like, April?"

His eyebrows rose. "February. Where did you live that spring starts in April?"

"Never mind that." I waved it away. "Intake is next year and you're asking him now because…?"

He shrugged. "I don't know when else I'll have the chance."

Ah. So he was a calculative bastard, but not by choice.

"Still," I said, going to the door. "Don't expect me to make an appearance when you start it up with Sakumo-ue again."

"You'll spend the whole day in the archives?"

I nodded. There was bound to be some material on this shinobi academy in the house. The Hatake were a founding clan, after all.

Leaf, as it turned out, had milder seasons. Summer was hot, and autumn was humid, and as winter set in, I realized with dismay that it was not the sort of winter that snowed, no, it was the sort of winter that was damp, and the road froze, and it was always drizzling.

To top it all off, only some rooms of the house had heating. The Hatake compound was a big house.

I sat on the wraparound porch-like flooring (I have to find the proper name for a house soon. It was embarrassing to live in a traditional compound and not know the name for things.) in three layers of clothing with a blanket around my shoulders, fingers wrapped around a half-empty cup of tea, and watched Kakashi go through basic unarmed kata. Minato was beside me, pouring himself a cup from the tea set.

When he finished, he stood there for a second, breaths clouding in the air. Then he turned towards me. "How long are you going to sit there?"

I made an unhappy noise and tried to burrow further into the blanket.

He frowned, annoyed.

Minato was more sympathetic. "You have to get used to our winters sometime, Haiko-chan. Now is a good time to start."

The guilt I felt at that was quickly chased away when Kakashi yelled an impatient, "Oi!" at me.

"I'm sleeping at the kotatsu tonight and you can't stop me," I mumbled spitefully, then finished off the dregs in my cup. I picked up a wooden kunai, took my spot, and trying not to think about how ridiculous it was that my fingers were already starting to smart from the cold, began my routine.

My visits to the sealing center dwindled to once a month, and Minato finally began giving me on basic sealing forms. Comparing the circles on the scrolls I was studying to whatever weird shape was on my face, I fully appreciated the huge distance I still had to cover if I wanted control over my own power. If I could understand and manipulate this seal, my seal, then it'd bother me less that I was going to enroll in (what's effectively) military school in a month.

Yep. Apparently me being okay with and accompanying Kakashi to school was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Sakumo had caved. Back in September, he told Kakashi he was going to think it over before he left, and then two months later he sat us down for a talk and laid out his terms.

If we were going to school, he wanted us to take our time, make friends, and use the facilities to their fullest potential. That first part was highly stressed. "Don't rush this," he'd said, looking at Kakashi. "And don't over-exert yourself." Then he'd turned to me, and, as expected, asked me to look after Kakashi, who looked the most offended at the situation.

But with the promise of schooling extracted from his dad, Kakashi threw himself into training with even more rigor. He also started pestering me in the archives, a space I previously had to myself, an invasion that I resented. He wanted to know if I'd found any material to prep for school, which I hadn't.

A family archive had things like genealogies and maps and trade agreements, not algebra textbooks. I told him so, and he looked crestfallen. Then, suspicious, he'd said, "Then how do you know your numbers?"

I'd panicked, mildly, then remembered all the charters and tallies I'd picked up and put down, and pinned my (still surprisingly solid) grasp of basic maths on them. Then, of course, he insisted on me pulling out said documents, and after that going over boring historical trade deals with him became yet another daily chore.

To clarify, it wasn't that I found these documents boring — technically, the documents were fascinating historical snapshots of life. They were just so boring without context. The one good thing that came of my suffering, however, was that Kakashi stopped being quite so annoyed by my lax attitude. I think he was impressed I could glean so much information about how life was lived from a three-decade old shopping list.

I still didn't have access to a mirror, but Orochimaru and Jiraiya's explanation all those months ago made clear the 'why' of things. I figured the adults in charge would surreptitiously sneak mirrors into my life the same way when they deemed my seal stable enough.

New Year's celebration came and went, another subdued family affair. We went out to the village cemetery in the morning, paying respects to Sakumo's fallen friends — I made a note to try and remember their names, but the blur of home-visits later that afternoon unfortunately wiped my memory of them.

The afternoon was dedicated to going around the village to all of Sakumo's living friends. These people, I recognized. There were the notable clans— the flower shop blonds, the dog breeders, the grumpy dark-haired Uchiha with their huge walled-off compound, and what seemed like an obligatory visit to the white-eyed Hyūga. There was one family with a patch of forest and a deer farm, and another who owned a chain restaurant and gave us a box of home-made dumplings. I recognized some of the family members as people who came to the birthday celebration, but most of their names escaped me.

Sakumo also paid a visit to Orochimaru, who, surprisingly, lived in an apartment building. I don't know what I expected, but the perfectly modern four-room apartment with its living room and attached kitchen was giving me out-of-body flashbacks. I poked into the bedrooms, finding all of them cramped, one of them in use, and the other two serving as storage. Kakashi hauled me back to the kitchen where the adults where, hissing about manners.

Conspicuously, Jiraiya and Tsunade went unmentioned. Were they out on missions, like Minato and Kushina? If so, why not just tell the kids? But it wasn't that big a deal, and I figured that, with a job that took you away from home a hundred percent of the time, missing public holidays without notice was normal.

The evening was dinner at home, and the day wrapped by setting off sparklers in the yard.

An hour after Sakumo put us to bed and I was relatively sure the house was asleep, I crept out of my room to the stretch of engawa facing the village. I sat there for a long time, tired but not sleepy, the warmth of the day long chased away by the chilly air and the even colder knowledge that Sakumo was going to commit suicide, and I had no idea what I was going to do about it.

"Tell me again what's involved in this orientation?" I said, a little bothered by the turnout I was seeing.

"Not much, just your usual activities," Kakashi said. He was wearing his scarf like a mask. Alternatively, he was hiding his face in his scarf like a turtle.

Not long now to making a fashion statement.

The crowd around us was made up of fresh-faced six-year-olds and above, mostly with their parents. I recognized some clan insignias, worn on the backs, but most of the kids here were civilian kids.

I was trying not to fume. This wasn't a school, this was a kindergarten. I was being sent to kindergarten. A kindergarten for killers.

It was getting more and more surreal every second I stood there.

"They going to teach these kids to kill?" I muttered, unable to stop a little bit of anger from leaking into my voice.

"That's- not-" Kakashi sank further into his scarf. I wondered if he was regretting his decision at the prospect of socialization.

"There's no need to focus on that while you are in the Academy," Minato said, coming up to us holding two lanyards. He gave one to Kakashi and one to me. I looked at my name printed on the little paper placard and felt a sour taste in my mouth. At least he wasn't trying to gloss over on it. Minato put his hands on both of our heads and smiled, but it wasn't as bright as his usual ones. "I can't accompany you inside, and frankly there's no need. I'm sure you two will handle it fine."

I narrowed my eyes at him. I did not want to spend the whole afternoon rubbing shoulders with kids who were going to be slaughtered by the next war. Kakashi must've been doing the same, because Minato chuckled and ruffled our hair. "You kids. Go make friends! That was a big part of my academy experience. Don't miss out!"

Then a bell rang and the doors opened, and parents kissed their children goodbye on the head and sent them into that red maw with a smile and a wave. Minato gave us a pat on the shoulder and a light push.

I swallowed the bile, tried to shake off the image of war in my head, and joined the flow of small bodies through the doorway.

It was slightly warmer in the building, and once all the kids had filed into an auditorium, the instructors closed the door and began a roll call. If I wanted to ditch, I'll have to find an opportunity later. I could only hope they weren't going to make us — I estimated hundred or so of kids by eye — do ice-breakers in here.

I listened to the instructor call name after name to be answered by a high, childish voice. I felt the phantom weight of the training kunai we've been practicing with in my hand. Suddenly, I recalled with awful clarity the paralyzing fear of being cornered; the glint of a blade by moonlight; touching stone-cracked skin with my bare hands.

The auditorium felt colder, and I clutched at my elbows. I tried to shake off the slimy film of memory. I'm in a different place now.

Kakashi nudged me. I glared at him and he frowned back, jerking his head in the direction of the instructor. When all that garnered was a confused look from me, he hissed, "Your name was called."

It was my turn to frown, though I directed it forwards. At the front, the instructor was scanning the crowd of children. "Hatake Haiko?" he asked again, and I frowned harder. It was still strange to hear my name in that configuration of sounds.

"Here!" I said, raising my voice just enough to be heard. The instructor, a dark-haired shinobi, found me, nodded curtly, and moved on to the next name on his list. "And your's?" I asked Kakashi.

"Already called." His frown faded. "What's gotten into you?"

"Don't like crowds," I said.

"Shinobi doesn't work with crowds." He probably meant that to be reassuring, but it only re-centered my concerns.

As we stopped talking, I realized there was a murmur of sound around us. The nearest kids had shuffled away from us, hands over their mouths as they whispered to each other. When I caught the eye of one, a light-haired little girl with pudgy cheeks, she shied away into her hair.

"Hey," I said, slowly. It wasn't anything drastically noticeable, but a thin ring of space around us was emerging. "Exactly what sort of reputation do you have?"

Kakashi huffed. "It's not able me or you," he said. "It's just that we're clan kids, and now they all know."

And that equated to ostracization…how?

"We're gonna get better grades, more attention from the instructors, the likes," he explained, bunching up his shoulders so the scarf almost brushed his eyes.

I left him to turtle into his accessories and looked around again. Was it only jealousy that led these kids to whisper about us? I knew what I was signing up for. Did they?

The taste of bile was still coating my throat. I didn't know the reasons for their enrollment, I told myself. It was quite likely that these kids came here because there was just no other school in a military village like Leaf. The (outdated) maps I found in the archives all had a capital for the country we serve, so maybe there'd be more options for parents there…

Or maybe these kids grew up on stories of the honor, glory, or pure coolness of shinobi, and came here wanting to be like those ideals.

I've seen the occasional ANBU member flitting across rooftops like a starling. I've seen the on-duty shinobi casually hopping onto walls or leaping into the trees to pass an obstacle as easily as breathing. I knew the allure of being able to do that, but I also knew, and was unable to ignore, the darker side of being able to do those things.

I wanted my education because I wanted to live. I don't know these kids, so I won't judge, but I didn't like the idea of sharing space with future corpses.

Why was my reaction so visceral? Because I couldn't do shit to help them, I think, and it made me both angry and upset.

"Boys and girls!" called the instructor, and the murmuring stopped, all heads turning to look at him. "Welcome to the Academy of the Village Hidden in the Leaves! I'm sure—"

I tuned him out. I didn't want to hear any of the platitudes, and I'll tune back in when he gets to the relevant bits. I studied the instructors instead.

There were five of them, two on each side and one at the front, speaking. They all wore the standard-issue camouflage-colored bulky vest, dark blue leggings, loose at the top and bound at the calves, and open-toed sandals. Some of them had gloves (for grip, I assumed) and some didn't. All had a forehead protector, with the little squiggly insignia of the Leaf. I watched them, their easy, relaxed manners, the kind smiles they directed at the children, and abruptly felt bad for them.

"—split into classes. The course is five years, with civilian classes in the morning and shinobi classes in the afternoon. Your parents will know more—"

What about them, then? What did they think about a system that, when war inevitably broke out, made these children into fodder? I had no reason to think shinobi war was different from the wars I knew from back then— and I distinctly remembered this world to have four separate wars. Or were they, like Minato, fully aware and just … chose to not think about it?

"—so, students, follow the instructor nearest to you, and we will finish the tour with a little snack break back here!" As the instructor in the front fell silent, and Kakashi let out an audible exhale of relief, I turned instantly to the left side instructors, even though we were standing on the right side of the auditorium.

"Wha—" Kakashi protested, but he followed me.

"Why?" he said a little later, when the chaos of shoving, excited kids had quieted down. The instructor was introducing himself as Tamasuke, a chūnin. He had a bright voice and a wide smile, and I wondered what he thought of babysitting duty.

"Because he has other clan kids that he's got to keep an eye on," I replied, nodding to the other kid with clan insignias on their back.

"The Nara?"

I looked again at the little girl with the black 'cancelled' sign on her back, and raised an eyebrow. "That's their clan symbol?" That's a … ridiculous design, but of course I had prior bias.

"It's a simplified one."

Maybe I should start memorizing clan insignia.

Tamasuke led his gaggle of kids, about twenty of us, out of the auditorium and down a straight corridor. He turned right when we reached the end, and as I was trailing along the back of the group, I peered down the right side.

That corridor ended with a door, and two more doors on either side before it. Kakashi yanked on my arm, and I reluctantly followed the group.

While he paid close attention to the instructor's narration (something about the classes held here), I tried to remember what I knew about this Academy. It had shoddy architecture, no internal wiring, but I couldn't be sure if I carried this memory over or I had noticed it peripherally. There should be walkways on the outer walls, and a distinctive rooftop. Could I verify this somehow?

What else.

There should've been a swing out in the courtyard…?

The classrooms should be arranged lecture hall style, and as we came up to one, Tamasuke let us inside for a visual tour. I noted his standing by the door, counting heads, and looked up into his face as I passed. He smiled at me. I nodded back.

He's probably a nice guy. You'd have to be, to play chaperon to a gaggle of kids for half a day.

Yes, the classroom was like a lecture hall, just scaled down. A wide blackboard was behind a movable, raised podium. The benches were hardwood. Kids were already running all over the three levels of the classroom, and the volume of sound was steadily on the rise. I noted the windows opening to a different patch of courtyard, still empty, then the one we waited in. I'd have expected a playground, but apparently not.

What else did I remember?

…I peered into the window boxes and their colorful wildflowers and shook my head. Nothing. Everything I could think of were educated guesses — like how there had to be administrative officers somewhere, and likely on the upper floors — not memories.

"Kids, it's time to leave!" Tamasuke called, and the children obediently gathered by his side. I walked over, noting for the first time that Kakashi had wandered to the back of the classroom, where there were several low bookcases that had previously been hidden from my view by tables.

"Anything good?" I asked him.

"I thought you'd make a beeline for them," he said, glancing at the courtyard and seeing, as I had, nothing of interest. He shook his head. "Picture books, mostly."

I held back making a face. Daycare.

The next place we visited was the training yard, which was yet another fenced off piece of open space. The only difference between this one and all the other spaces I'd seen was the line of wooden dummies one end, painted targets on their chests, and a rack of training weapons by the wall.

Tamasuke began his usual spiel of what classes would be held here (taijutsu shuriken-jutsu), then let us explore the space.

I went to the furthest end and looked up, at the building. Red roof tiling, check. Distinctive rooftop structure… what were the pale blue metal-looking horns poking over the top? What did they connect to?

At least I spotted the walkways I thought I remembered. I saw the end of one, it's metal railing gleaming in the sun, curving into view around a wall and ending at red door. The walls were beige, check. From my limited perspective, there was no way to gauge the interior layout.

I was about to wander off when I spotted Tamasuke coming over, and so paused to wait for him. Better to put forward a personality when I was still in neutral books.

"Hello sensei!" I said to him, cheerfully.

"Hello Hatake-san," he said, without even a glance to the paper on my lanyard. So, knew me by sight? Well, I guess my seal was going to be very distinctive. It's going to be hard to sneak off. "I noticed you aren't with the other children. Did you see something interesting?"

I pointed up the walkway and the door in the wall. "I think the red roofs are very pretty! Where does that go?"

"Oh, good eye! That one heads to the jōnin offices, Hatake-san. Did you know the Hokage-sama has his office here as well?"

My eyes popped. I did not. "The Hokage-sama?" I said, and the awe and surprise in my voice was entirely real. "Here?"

"Yep!" Tamasuke beamed. "It's so that the Hokage-sama can protect the children, who are precious to us."

Yeah, he's definitely a good person.

I nodded solemnly, figuring it as good a reaction as any, then glanced back at the door. Jōnin offices, huh. Then some of those highly skilled people must be crawling about right this moment. Add to that the Hokage's office… it was a very good conservation of security forces.

"In fact, you will all receive a talk from Hokage-sama himself, to encourage you all to study hard and study well and grow up into strong shinobi." I looked back, and he was smiling encouragingly. Did he think I was shy? Most likely.

"That's very kind of him," I replied, truthfully. "He's probably very busy."

"Hokage-sama thinks the world of you," he said. "Have fun today, Hatake-san!"

"I will!" I said, smiling a little to both thank him and placate him.

He waved as he left, going up to two girls, who were gigging over one of their friends waving around training kunai.

I turned over his words. It's good to know our leader wasn't some money-addled fool. If he valued the lives of children — or maybe the architect who designed this did — then he probably wasn't the cutthroat type of shinobi.

I turned around to the wall, looking up. Foliage popped over the wall. So this courtyard is mostly hidden, from street level.

"What did he say?" Kakashi seemingly popped out of nowhere. "And what are you looking at?"

"Trees," I shot back. "The Hokage-sama is going to give us a talk at the end of the day, he said. Also that's the jōnin offices. Nice to know were you're going to end up."

He spun around to follow my finger, eager as a puppy. "Maybe we'll see a jōnin today."

"Did you hear me? The Hokage-sama is coming to see us. Shouldn't you be more excited about that?"

"You aren't," he said. "Besides, he's always giving speeches. You can see the Hokage-sama anytime there's a big celebration or it's his wife or son's birthday. You see jōnin a lot less."

I rolled my eyes at his hero worship. "I hope we're done soon. I don't think there's anymore to see, and if this goes on for much longer I'm sneaking off."

He gasped. "What? No, you can't!"

"Calm down," I said, surprised that he was surprised. Have I ever seemed like a stickler for rules? But then, I reflected, we haven't been out that much at all. "It won't be for long. I want to see the roof, that's all."

His shoulders dropped. "Well, don't drag me into it."

When Tamasuke called us all back, having given us significantly more time than he did in the classroom, I had walked one round by the walls, just for fun. Kakashi had gone off to the weapons rack, as I knew he would. Tamasuke led us back into the building, telling us that next, he was going to show us a class in session, and we have to be quiet and good, alright?

I glanced to Kakashi, noting his good mood. Should I tell him I had no plans to see a class in session? He wasn't going to call the instructor when I did sneak off, was he? Solidarity probably did go that far between us. Thinking back, I maybe should've tried harder to make friends…

Tamasuke led us left, then right, and a little bit before the corridor we were talking down ended, I saw a staircase. It led to the left, and while I had no idea where I was going to go to reach the roof, I had a pretty good head for directions.

I was still trailing at the end of the group. I started slowing down, pretending to look over my shoulder, and Kakashi barely glanced back. When the group rounded the corner, Tamasuke disappearing first, I took the stairs without looking back.

One flight up, two flights up, and I emerged into a quiet, sparse corridor. There was a potted plant some ways down, and as I'd guessed, the layout here was the exact same as the corridors below. Which meant that if I retraced my steps back to where the exit of the building should be, I'd find something new.

As good a place as any to start.

I went down the corridors, noting the unmarked, windowless doors. It felt like walking down a college office building, except the second-floor windows had a view of the brilliantly blue sky from my very short stature. I turned left, went down that corridor, and was faced with another corridor that ended in a door marked 'supplies'. Dead end.

I smiled, smugly. One area mapped.

When I made it back to the stairs, however, I found a very grumpy, very impatient Kakashi. "Oh, hey," I said. "Changed your mind?"

"I cannot believe you," he bit out, careful to keep his voice low. "I look away for one second!"

"Yeah, yeah." I waved it away, then pointed behind me. "I already went back there, nothing to see. If you're going to follow me, keep quiet."

I couldn't see his mouth, but by the way his shoulders rose, I could tell he was gearing up to say some very choice words, so I rolled my eyes and walked off. He wasn't going to go back to Tamasuke and the posse of children, I knew that. He'd been gone too long by now to have it brushed off as lagging behind.

If we were on the first floor, the next area would be classrooms, which meant big rooms and straight corridors, which meant the upstairs layout would be different. I was looking for staircases, which meant no doors. There was also no need to sneak around — I had an excuse planned.

I strolled down the corridor, noting the building's repetitive nature. Purposeful design, or a lack of creativity?

I found stairs two turns down. Noting where it was, I climbed it. Three or four floors would probably be the limit to this building, and since I was so short, watching out for a blaze of sunlight was easy. If I couldn't find it, no harm done either.

The third floor had a lot more corridor dead-ending in doors. This was probably the jōnin floor, then. It matched the placement of the outside walkway, too. That one had been right under the roof.

I huffed and crossed my arms when I reached another dead end.

"Maybe we should head back," Kakashi offered.

I tapped my elbow, thinking. Then I got on my knees and stuck a hand into the doorway, taking a little care to not actually shove it all the way through. No change in temperature.

"What are you doing now?"

"It's no guarantee," I said, withdrawing said hand.

I repeated the same thing with all the doors I'd come across. Only one had a temperature change, and I stepped back at that one, eyeing the door knob. It was within reach, but could I do it without causing a fuss?

I shrugged, and reached up.

It was unlocked, and it swung open soundlessly to the open air roof. I pumped the air with a fist. Kakashi made an appreciative hum.

I took off my shoes and wedged them between the door and the frame, just in case the door latches by itself for whatever reason. When I straightened, Kakashi was looking at me speculatively.

"What?"

"I was just thinking you'd make a very good shinobi," he said. "All this poking around without being found?"

"Oh, if anyone's watching this place, they'd have noticed us by now. But a couple of kids? No threat."

"And the thinking. I'm only saying, it's a waste you don't really want to become a shinobi."

I shook my head. "Maybe I just don't want to die before I hit twenty. And stop thinking about those things. Maybe Tamasuke-san will be so angry that we snuck off that he'll kick us out!"

"That's nothing to be cheerful about," he grumbled. I ignored him, running out to the rooftop only in my socks. Was it cold? Yes. Was it refreshing? Double yes!

I sighed happily into the railings. It was a big roof, and yes, there were distinctive horn-like protrusions from all sides, as though the roof was a big torch. The spring wind blew across my face, washing away the depressing memories I had brought with me from mother's cottage, washing away all the doom and gloom about an uncertain future.

I could see almost all of the village. From here, I could even see a little bit past the huge main gates that I'd never seen up close.

"Hey, that's our house," Kakashi said, pointing to the left.

He was right. The area had less trees, and though I couldn't see the roof of the compound, I recognized the top of the houses that lined the path between the compound and the village.

"Look, Kashi, that's the other group," I said, indicating with my chin the courtyard below us, where one adult and a bunch of kids were milling around.

"Huh," he said, peering between the railing.

I turned my face to the sky. The air here was much, much fresher than I ever remembered it being. If air back home could be described as tasteless, then the air here was sweet. I hate to point fingers at industrialization as thought it was an avoidable thing, but I wished I had twenty years of this air.

"I bet you don't regret ditching them now," I said, turning to Kakashi.

"No," he said, sounding like it was being dragged out of him. "This is pretty cool."

I laughed.

"Having fun, kids?" said a droll voice, and I almost lost my grip on the railings. "Whoop," said the shinobi, hauling me back to safety.

"Nara-kun!" Kakashi yelped, scrambling to his feet.

The smart one! Boy. I puffed out my cheeks, mildly affronted. So much for planning to play the dumb kid. He was the least likely to buy it. He set me down and I patted down my pants, nonchalant. Time for a different act.

"Who's brilliant idea was it to give poor Tamasuke-san a heart attack?" Sharp eyes flitted between us. "I bet it was you, girl."

"I'm sure he's fine," I said, shrugging.

"It was her," Kakashi quickly confirmed.

"But you aided and abetted, brat." Shikaku Nara bent towards Kakashi with one eyebrow raised. "So that doesn't let you off the hook."

I rolled my eyes. "What hook? I thought you old farts would show some appreciation for my initiative. Isn't that the sort of thing you'd want in a new crop of soldiers?"

"Smart and mouthy!" Shikaku exclaimed. "I don't like you, brat."

"But I'm right and you know it."

"Irrespective of what makes a good shinobi, running off on your own during a scripted event is both impolite and irresponsible."

"I don't know what that means." I turned up my nose. Off to the side, Kakashi was trying to retreat into his scarf.

Shikaku made a disbelieving noise. "I can't tell if you're lying. Inoichi!"

A blond man that I'd seen at the birthday gathering and — in the flower shop! They were the flower shop blonds! "Calling in the cavalry already?" he said to Shikaku, then gave us an easy grin.

"These kids are precocious," Shikaku replied.

"You own the flower shop?" I asked, more preoccupied with pairing names to faces.

"Hello, Haiko-san, Kakashi-san. Yes, my family owns the flower shop. Nice to meet you again, though the circumstances are regrettable." He turned to Shikaku. "They're sweet, whatever do you mean?"

"I can't deal with kids who talk back," Shikaku said, bringing a hand up to massage his temples. "I'm going to tell Chōza and Tamasuke-san to stop searching the grounds. You bring them back. And girl," he fixed me with a stern look, but I could tell there weren't any anger behind it; it was just for show. "I hope I never have a brat like you."

"When you reach child-bearing age, you'd change your mind," I quipped. "Sakumo-ue likes me fine."

He barked a laugh, then flickered like a bad TV and vanished. Chakra schmakra, it's just magic!

Inoichi was shaking his head. "I never guessed you to be the troublemaking type, Haiko-san. I have to say, though, it was impressive that you found your way here."

I shrugged, still trying to remember his name. Something something '-naka'.

He started chivvying us towards the rooftop door.

"Are we going to get detention?" Kakashi finally spoke up. He sounded worried.

"I'm not sure," Inoichi replied. "Technically, school for new students doesn't start until tomorrow. It'll be up to the instructors."

I ran ahead to pull on my shoes and hold the door. Inoichi, when he reached, was glancing between me, my shoes, and the door with a puzzled sort of air. I let him puzzle it out, electing to wonder what sort of detention would this school dole out. Lines? Cleaning duty? Sorting books? I was sure I could handle it.

As we went down the stairs, Inoichi still behind us, I patted Kakashi's shoulder. "Cheer up!" He looked like a scolded puppy. If he had ears, they'd be flattened against his head. His glare didn't hold much heat. I grinned back. "It won't be so bad. We didn't do anything wrong. They didn't explicitly say we couldn't run off, after all!"

"Of course you'd be the most cheerful when you're caught breaking the rules, why did I expect anything different…" He was muttering into his scarf, and yeah, if he didn't start wearing a mask all the time now, I'd invent a gun to shoot myself.

I also heard Inoichi muffling a laugh, so. All was well.

ffnet's editing feels wonky compared to AO3, but I'm not going to shift this story until its finished because im stubborn. thank you all so much for the response to this old fic. someday i will clean up the first bit, since the style changed so much? *shrug

disclaimer, no profits, etc etc, better get back into the habit, since this isn't on AO3