Chapter 8 is out!
Chapter 8: That was a lot easier than expected
Days had passed by and some kind of a routine settled. In the morning, Nagisa woke up early and quietly paddled through the house to join her mother at the porch. Her father was long gone. Together, they would admire the sun rising above the sea and enjoy the calm of Uzushio while siping Yaki nori tea. Burning seaweed tea, Nagisa recalled softly, and it was quite fitting. Bitter, spicy, the taste of a flame and it burned just as bad. To sharpen the mind and tone the body. Nagisa only felt the burning and never the effects.
At that point, when the sun was at a solid quarter in the sky, Yukio would wake up and Nagisa would have to leave for her lessons with Sumi-sensei and Mito. The library was as breathtaking as ever and the guard, as mockingly friendly but Mito wasn't.
She was getting worse, Nagisa noted absently one day. She lost focus easily, her penmanship was getting sloppier and the bags under her eyes, darker. And Nagisa still did nothing. It wasn't like she didn't want to; that small spiteful part of her that wished some kind of karma had calmed down long ago. But she had no idea if her concerns would be welcomed or not and didn't want to make the situation worse. So she kept quiet.
After all, if she wanted help, she would come to her, right?
Most of the time, the lessons would end around lunch and Nagisa could hungrily crawl back home and wolf the lunch down while recalling some of her lessons. Kazashi would laugh at her bad imitations of Sumi-sensei with a wistful glint in the eyes; Yukio would laugh too, but only because of her bad imitations and her mother's laugh. He had no idea who Sumi-sensei was - and thank god, she didn't want him to be traumatized so young.
If Nagisa was particularly convincing in her imitations, her mother would share some of her own stories - because, of course, that man had to have been her parents' sensei.
After a small nap, she would go to the beach and start stretching. Yakihiro would arrive not long after and a very long training session would begin. It started with a small taijutsu fight, then once Yakihiro had burned that excess of energy - and Nagisa had dodged his hits with more or less success - they would either do some accuracy's exercises or he would teach her some jutsus - 80% were evasion jutsus like Kawarimi. Also added reflex exercises - which basically was scaring the shit out of her and analyzing her response - but they were utterly unpredictable.
Finally, to make sure she was dead on her feet, it was a free fight: everything was allowed and it would only end when she either yielded or ate the ground so badly she couldn't get up.
Today, the latter had happened and Nagisa was busy recovering her breathing and laying on the ground like a starfish when Miru came out of nowhere.
Nagisa grunted and closed her eyes. Surely, if she played dead then she would leave her alone, right? Wrong. Nagisa tried very hard not to move when a foot nudged her. Miru was nothing but stubborn and dedicated because she nudged her for five minutes before the Uzumaki girl reacted.
"'M dead."
With the sun on her skin and that very nice breeze cooling her down, Nagisa was really tempted to nap. It was-
"No, you're not."
Too good to be true. Miru shifted just enough to cover her with her shadow and it wasn't as good anymore. She sighed and opened her eyes, watching the older girl smiling before crouching down.
"See," she poked a bruise and Nagisa hissed in answer, "Very much alive."
Nagisa groaned, "Do you enjoy torturing me?"
"Does it hurt?" Miru laughed, eyes twinkling mischievously.
"Of course it does! Do you want me to bruise you and poke it?" She answered exasperatedly.
And with the longest string of insults and groans in recorded history, Nagisa sat up.
It really wasn't funny when sensei wanted to exhaust her. It's for your own good, he said; you need to learn to push through exhaustion and recognize its effect, he said. Nagisa only heard his gleeful cackles.
Sometimes, she had to admit she deserved it. She may or may not have taken her teasing a bit too far and she may or may not have asked if he wanted to make the man he stared at a bit too long his lover. Loudly. And in the middle of civilians. How she had laughed that day…
Now, not so much.
"You sound like a grandma," Miru giggled but helped her to her feet, "So I supposed it means there is no training."
Nagisa bit back a groan and grimaced, "Yeah."
"Oh," her face fell, a soft glow of disappointment wrapped around her like a cloak and Nagisa didn't like it. "Okay."
She looked dejected, eyes cast downward and pouting lips and that mischievous glint was subdued. Even her body conveyed that; her shoulders slumped, her center of balance was lowered and more unstable and her hands were at her sides, visible and unarmed and-
-And Nagisa realized that she was analyzing her friend, storing in her tells, her threat level, and her weaknesses. She shook her head.
Baby step Nagisa, she reminded herself.
"You know," Nagisa pondered out loud, "I'm quite hungry. Do you want to join me?"
Her brown eyes lightened to caramel and her chakra moved happily around her. She blushed and scratched her head, her other hand moving this and that way in front of her.
"I mean, if you want me to come, I can't say no. It would be rude of me to say no-"
"I don't want you to feel pressurize so I guess I will retire my propo-"
"No," Miru shouted and Nagisa almost toppled backward when she suddenly appeared in her comfort zone, "I want to join you."
Her smile turned mocking and she could feel the smug irradiating out of her. Gotcha. Miru caught up soon enough and turned around huffing. Nagisa laughed before evading her punches.
They kept playing around a few minutes, Miru looked far too happy and Nagisa could still muster the strength to dodge a bit, before she called the game to an end. She caught her kick. "So, Anpan sounds good to you?"
Miru stumbled with her momentum but managed to keep herself steady. She slowly blinked at Nagisa, rolling that thought in her head a few times before nodding. "Yeah, as long as there is no fish, I like everything."
"No fish?" Nagisa raised a brow, "Kinda hard on this island. You don't like it?"
"More like I don't want to eat them."
Nagisa raised her other brow but didn't press further, it was more likely a clan thing and it was rude to ask about such a thing. She eyed the gills on the side of her neck. Yeah, it's probably a clan thing.
"So, you want to go into the fancy sweet shop or the more family restaurant?"
"I don't have money."
It took her an embarrassingly long amount of time to understand the root of the problem. Miru didn't have money and neither did she. And now she was frozen, mind blank and foot hovering over a poor twig that could only watch its impending doom like the useless branch it was. Of fucking course. Why didn't she think about that?
"Well," she said, scraping furiously in her brain to find a solution. Of course, the moment she tried to reciprocate that friendship thing something like that had to happen. "Well, we could annoy sensei until he pays for us or we could go to my house."
She started walking again.
"I'm not sure-" Miru started but Nagisa waved her off.
"I will handle sensei, you will see, he isn't as mean as he looks."
…
Nagisa sulked, a river of tears running down her face, as Miru walked beside her, patting her back sympathetically. Nagisa shrugged it off with a scowl. She didn't want sympathy. Let her drown in self-pity, dammit!
"Yare, yare, it's okay. Your mother still gave us money."
Sensei had been less than cooperative with her, especially the moment he had learned what she wanted... To explain with simple words, he kicked her ass and it created in Miru newfound respect and admiration for her sensei. Nagisa could feel herself slip off the pedestal Miru raised her on.
"But… But I thought it would work…"
So they went to her mother who had happily thrown them money - more money than they needed - with a brightness in her eyes that appeared the moment Nagisa presented Miru as her friend. Coincidentally, Miru had that same brightness.
"Maybe you shouldn't have mentioned his lover."
Yeah, maybe she shouldn't have but the opportunity to tease him was too tempting to miss. And now, she had a feeling she wouldn't like the next few days.
"Yeah, maybe." she agreed before clapping her hands. "So. Which shop? Fancy or not fancy?"
"Not the fancy one. We're not dressed for it."
Nagisa tilted her head, wondering why the hell would they need to dress up before shrugging. "To the restaurant then."
…
The taste of red bean paste was heavenly on her tongue; the tiny bowl of fruit and the white tea she took with added that touch that made the world brighter. It was like tiny explosions of bittersweet bubbles inside her. She shivered with pleasure. It may be because she was incredibly hungry but it felt like heaven. At least for her. Miru looked weird out by her groans of delight and her expression of bliss.
"Do you always react like that?"
Nagisa exhaled slowly. "I like food." She answered like it was the most obvious answer. And it was: food was life and life was good so, food was good. Simple maths. She had been a real moron to stop eating during that week.
"And I'm also terribly hungry," she added after a few seconds while she started playing with the rim of her mug.
Miru nodded slowly, a bit disbelieving and a bit surprised but still trying to remain understanding and bit into her pastry, her eyes closing for a second too long.
Nagisa smiled. "See, you reacted too. That's good food."
The restaurant was surprisingly crowded for a late afternoon; some children were playing tag inside while the adults watched over them. There were couples here and there that were sometimes overly obnoxious in their demonstrations of love - lady, could you please not stick your tongue down his throat, I'm trying to enjoy my anpan. And there were some shinobis, easily spotted by their stiff postures and ever-moving eyes.
"Did you hear?" A whisper, a soft voice stroking her eardrums caught her attention. She relaxed in her seat, tilting her head. Hear what?
"Hama said that Kaito assured her that the barrier was raised on time." A quiet gasp and Nagisa had to close her eyes to listen. If only the people could shut up.
"How could they have bypassed the barrier?"
"Either the barrier isn't as strong as we thought or-"
"Nagisa!" She jumped, a kunai appearing in her hand. She hid it before Miru could see it. Not smart Miru, do not startle the sleeping water. "Did you fall asleep on me? Am I that boring?"
"No, of course not! But Sensei did tire me out quite a bit." Miru didn't look convinced and cutely pouted at her, reddening cheeks growing twice as big but despite that, she still tried to accept her answer.
It made her feel some kind of warm, fuzzy feelings in her gut and with a quick flick of her wrist, she booped her nose, a delighted giggle leaving her lips when she scrunched her nose. Nagisa was… content. She was glad that she found a friend so willing to try to accept her.
"So, what do you do when you don't bother me?"
"Don't say it like you don't like it." Miru rolled her eyes and threw a towel that never reached its target. Nagisa's smile widened, eyes shining with mockery. "I'm learning the fine art of pearl diving. My family is teaching me our jutsus and you should see underwater! It's so beautiful and-"
Nagisa hummed under her breath, basking in the ray of sun that decided to reach their table. Going out with a friend was decidedly nice and Nagisa was glad she found Miru.
Days had passed by and Mito was still not getting better. Today was worse than before. Everything, from her posture to her hair, wasn't right. Her writing was messy and her eyes, relentless and unfocused. They were barely an hour in the lesson and Mito had already been hit five times. And each hit brought a mean glint in her eyes.
"The interaction between two minors seals follows two very important rules." Sumi-sensei walked across the alcove, turning around them like a vulture ready to pounce on its prey. For now, he was looking at them. " One, their core must be able to interact together. Lightning and earth can't interact just like water and fire, unless a balancer is added but that is for a later lesson." He slowly walked behind them and Nagisa tensed. How she disliked when he was behind her; she never knew if he would hit her or not. "Two, the difference of energy, of chakra they cost must be of equivalent-"
The sound of bamboo hitting skin made her sit up straighter. Nagisa winced. Sixth, it was the sixth time he hit her.
Mito's green eyes lit up. There was a flame inside them. A powerful burning flame of anger. A flame that promised pain and violence. She wanted to skin him alive.
The silence that followed was unbearable.
Mito was looking at Sumi-sensei square in the eyes, scowling fiercely as her chakra emitted bursts of anger. Sumi-sensei was barely looking at her, eyes half-lidded, he didn't even move his head. He looked at her over the bridge of his nose like the haughty bastard that he was, chakra rolling around them like a thundercloud ready to explode. And Nagisa, poor fool that she was, was sweating bullet on the side, stuck between two raging storms, and she had to wonder, was she going to be the witness of a murder? If yes, would she help Mito hide the body?
Probably.
But as it was, Sumi-sensei opened his mouth. Was he going to diffuse the situation?
"And I thought you had the most potential. How disappointing…"
Her mouth hit the table. Nagisa blinked multiple times to comprehend what he just said. Oh whoa… He managed to insult both of them without even trying. It was almost like it came naturally. Maybe he was born an asshole?
If she squinted enough, she could almost see smoke exiting Mito's head and with enough imagination, she could hear the whistly noise of a tea kettle. Oh, that was bad.
Mito exploded, face burning and eyes sending thunderbolts.
"Excuse me? I have failed you? You have failed me in fact? Maybe if you, you know, corrected our mistakes instead of hitting us we would have made progress, dattebase!"
The more Mito talked, the wider Nagisa's eyes opened. It was like assisting at a battle between two titans, but instead of two real titans, it was an old man and a seven-year-old girl.
Sumi-sensei grew deathly calm and Nagisa knew that shit just hit the fan and in an icy voice, he said: " The little girl seems to know better than anyone so maybe she should lea-"
Black ink spilled across the table stained the scroll they were working on. They all watched as the pot of ink rolled and rolled all across the table until it fell down and shattered. The attention shifted on her as Nagisa rolled her shoulders.
"Oops," she offered in her most innocent expression.
Sumi-sensei didn't buy it. He exploded,
"Do you have any ideas what you've done? You, foolish girl, you've ruined the only copy we had of that text."
Nagisa inwardly grimaced. Knowing her luck, she should have expected that.
"This is my mistake," She eyed steadily the old man. "Then I'll fix it."
"Oh, you will." He promised, face turning sinister and Nagisa could barely suppress her shivers. "That you will."
Was it a threat? It felt like a threat. Should she be really worried? Probably. Should she run from Uzushio and change her name? It would be wise. Was she regretting it? Yes. Would she do it again? - Nagisa eyed Mito a second - If shifting his attention to her helped Mito than probably.
She just had to wait for punishment to come.
After that, the lesson came to an end faster than expected, though she still managed to get hit a few times - because she was just that good at being punished. And with the lesson coming to an end, her punishment was just around the corner and she still didn't know what it was. It was slightly stressing her out.
Sumi-sensei clapped once, "Dismissed. Except you Nagisa. You stay with me."
Perhaps if she sweated enough she could sweat her dread out? If only…
Mito raised abruptly to her feet and stomped off, still irritated but not as angry as before. And Nagisa found herself alone with Sensei.
"Come with me." Of course, he had to make her wait. It wouldn't be fun otherwise.
After many turns, he stopped in front of an aisle, roamed a fourth of it before stopping. Nagisa watched the scroll he held with as much reverence as he had for the paper. The scroll screamed oldness; the golden engravings were limed, the yellowed paper looked like it would crumble under the slightest breeze and Nagisa feared that breathing too heavily would destroy the word of art it was.
Old was brittle and knowledge while new was strong but blank. One was filled with tales of life while the other was a blank canvas. One taught while the other learned.
It was one of the reasons why the old were always so respected. Nagisa was torn apart by two opposite desires. One wanted to hide the scroll and make sure that nothing could destroy it - protect the knowledge - while the other wanted to hoard it, put her hands on it, feel the old paper grain and learn everything she could from it.
There was a soft hum before Sumi-sensei threw her a glance. He looked conflicted, his long gray eyebrows were frowning but the small acknowledgment in his eyes told her that he understood. He knew what she was feeling because he was feeling the same.
With a heavy sigh, he presented her the scroll.
"Sensei?" Nagisa cocked a brow.
"You will copy this scroll entirely and put it back in place. If there is one tear on this scroll, one tiny tear…" his voice dropped, "You will never be allowed in this library ever again. Am I clear?"
Nagisa gasped, loud and outraged and slightly terrified. Banning her from the library? And her not taking care of such a magnificent piece of knowledge? Outrageous. Slanders! Jail for the Sensei for one thousand years!
Nagisa nodded, presenting under hands under the scroll, waiting for her teacher to let go. They probably looked at each other for a few - thirty-six - seconds before he managed with difficulty to pry his hand away.
She could feel his gaze on her during the whole way back to her seat.
…
Five hours. It took her five entire hours to finish copying the scroll.
Her hand was twitching oddly, like it couldn't comprehend that she finally put that brush down and put everything back into place - well, the scrolls at least. She gazed at the guard - who may or may not have tried to talk to her - but she was too dazed, eyes hazy and unseeing, mind fumbling around and dizzy with hunger.
She missed lunch and she missed her training. If not her hunger, Yakihiro would kill her. She couldn't care less. The tiny part of her that worried was crushed under the weight of her apathy and soreness. God, she was so sore. Her back, her hand, her knees, her head. Everything hurt and pulsed, she was dizzy with hunger and tiredness. She really wasn't made to be still for too long-
She blinked once, twice, thrice and rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing things straight. No matter how many times she blinked, the face of Mito fiercely scowling at her would not disappear.
She moved aside to let her go inside. Mito moved with her. She did it another time and still, Mito mirrored her.
Uh… Maybe she wants to see me…
"Can I… Can I help you?"
She frowned and crossed her arms and looked at her very pointedly, as if she was trying to find her answer on her face.
"Why?" Seeing that her question didn't make Nagisa react, she continued, "Why did you do it? Why did you spill that bottle of ink? Why did you slouch on purpose? Why-"
Nagisa raised a hand. Oh, that. Now it was starting to make sense and Nagisa really wasn't in the mood to answer that just yet.
And how was she supposed to explain that without angering her?
Angering…
Anger…
Hunger…
Food?
"Are you hungry?"
Mito looked at her blankly and Nagisa rolled her shoulders, a bit sheepish.
At least, if they were doing that, it would be on her ground.
…
Nagisa watched as Mito shifted on her stool, clearly impatient to start her questioning but having enough manners to let her enjoy the divine gifts that she paid for. Her red hair hung in her face, sometimes curling but mostly straight, and Mito pushed it back with a grumpy grumble under her breath. Her eyes kept moving, never stopping on one thing for too long, and she very pointedly tried to not stare at her too much.
Her chakra rolled out of her in waves. It shifted and turned and spiked with small bursts of annoyance. It curled around Nagisa's cheeks and neck, like tiny hands ready to snap it, annoyed at her for taking her sweet time.
Nagisa had offered to buy her something with her money - though, it was more her mother's money than her but the woman was far too happy giving it for her to use with her friend - but Mito had refused, expecting her to be done soon.
That was thirty minutes ago.
"So," Nagisa started, watching Mito perking up, "Why did I help you, uh?" She turned her head, watching the outside, the trees rustling, and the river below.
How the hell was she going to explain it?
"Yes." Curt and to the point, her answer didn't help her in any way.
She rolled multiple words and explanations in her head without success. Either it was too blunt and Mito wouldn't like it or too sweet and Mito wouldn't like it either. Tongue on her cheek, Nagisa hummed softly.
…
"Nagisa-san?"
She blinked, coming back from her dreamland. Right. Mito.
"Uh. Yes." That was going to be fun. "Well," she scratched her head, taking a deep breath. In times of doubt, always say what is on your mind. "Listen, I never tried to approach you before because- ah, because you- I knew you could deal with whatever is troubling you. I didn't want to meddle in and maybe overstep boundaries but you're not getting better. I noticed it. You're losing your sleep and you're simply tired and the mistakes you're doing? Tired. That anger that burned deep and fierce and the feeling that nothing will get better? Tired and grieving. And-"
Nagisa sighed, deep and slightly upset with herself. Why couldn't she say the things she wanted to say correctly?
"And it upset me that sensei chooses to turn a blind eye on that and punish you. It's- It's unfair."
Unfair. Unfairness. Words that left a sour taste in her mouth but words that she couldn't do much against. Unfairness ruled this world and not even Uzushio was exempted. But-
But.
But it doesn't touch you, why would you care?
Mito kept quiet but her smile lost that edge that made shivers crawled across her back. She looked…
During a few seconds, Nagisa believed that Mito was going to release the hellhounds and they would tear her apart with her cackling in the background. But then, her face settled for surprise. Surprise and something else, something murking below the green of her eyes.
"I know we are not… uh, close and that my father well punched yours," She winced when her eyes darkened. Oops. "But I'm not my father and it would be unfair to judge me over his action." Silence. Awkward silence, but Nagisa bravely kept going. "But what I really wanted to say is if you need help or simply to talk, well… I'm here."
Silence. Long silence. Very long silence that made Nagisa squirm on her stool, sweat dripping down her neck and heart thundering. Did she say something wrong? Did she hurt her? Should she apologize? Was it appropriate? Maybe she really did overstep her boundaries. Was she going to tear her a new hol-
"I see," Mito had a strange expression on her face. Wistful in a way, eyes shining with the hint of something else underneath. Something she couldn't explain, couldn't describe. Glad? Touched? No and no. Or maybe yes. Maybe it was a maelstrom of emotions and maybe Mito didn't even know what she was feeling. "Thank you. I- I appreciate the concern. And your actions. Unneeded but appreciated."
Nagisa pinched her lips. Was it all? Did she really worry for nothing? No further reaction?
"I will take my leave, now. Have a nice day."
And Nagisa watched her leave, pace a bit too stiff that betrayed a sense of urgency.
So, that was all. It was almost… disappointing. True, Nagisa was glad that she didn't seem to have upset her but she had hoped that she would receive something else, not just acceptance. Something like happiness? Hoping that she was touched by her concern. Hoping that…
Hoping that she would open up and that they could initiate something, a bond. Friendship.
Baby steps, she reminded herself. You've made the first step - take that Daichi! - and now you need to wait. It's her choice. You did everything you could.
Munching on a fruit, Nagisa nodded to herself. Yes, everything she could.
. . .
Did she?
The next day came too soon and not soon enough.
With the fierce taste burning her mouth, Nagisa entered the library and made her way toward their alcove, fingers dancing over the books, stroking them as she passed by.
Her companion was already hunched over a book, hair freely spilling over her shoulders.
"Good morning Mito-san."
Nagisa sat down next to her.
Silence. Not unexpected but still disappointing. Nagisa squashed that feeling with vengeance.
"Good morning, Nagisa-san."
Nagisa blinked and tried very hard to stop her lips from curling, her guts twisting and dancing.
That day, Nagisa walked back to her home with a skip in her steps.
...
To be continued?
And that was all for chapter 8! Tell me what you think about it!
Hope you enjoy it. It's happiness with a hint of something else ;)
Thank you for the reviews and the fav/follow, y'all! You rock.
Take care.
I'm out.
