As soon as the ceremony ends I hand Naruto our bentos before turning around in my chair to look at the Jonin behind us. Kakashi is reading his dirty book behind Shisui. Tenzo sits behind me and smiles as I turn around to him. On his other side is Genma, and beside him Yugao. Next to her is a new person I haven't seen in this life, but by the cough he just let out, I know it's Hayate. So he and Yugao are together then? I table that for later and set my gaze on Genma. I glare at him until he finally looks at me. I can hear Shisui and his cousins say goodbye to Naruto behind me, and I know it's the worst time to say this because the Uchiha clan heads have just walked behind me to talk to the Yamanakas, but I do it anyway.
"You're really annoying." I tell Genma bluntly. He throws his hand across his chest dramatically in response.
"I can't believe you would say that to me, Kikuko." He says in the most deadpan tone.
"You wouldn't shut up! Not all of us are ancient and get to hear this every year like you 'ttbane!" Yugao and Hayate burst out into laughter, Tenzo's lip tilts up slightly, and Kakashi lets out a quiet snort as he turns the page.
"At least I'm not a pipsqueak." Genma smirks around his senbon.
"Oh you're so dead." Yugao whispers under her breath as I feel my chakra flare on its own in my anger. I really need to work on that. But that can wait. I have a Jonin to kill.
I immediately stand in my chair, ready to jump over it to hit him, but I'm picked up into the arms of Tenzo. He holds me tightly until I stop struggling to attack Genma. I can faintly hear Yugao being the only sane one and offering an apology to the Uchiha's behind me.
"You haven't even started yet and you're already trying to attack people, Kikuko." Tenzo sighs as I finally lay my head on his shoulder. Tenzo was sturdy, no tree pun intended- okay, actually yes, pun intended. But he was always able to calm me down when I got angry. I struggle for a few minutes, trying to maintain my breathing as I hear the clan families around us talking, Tenzo has sat back down in his seat. I hold onto his flak jacket tightly, hiding my face in his neck to avoid looking at Genma.
Especially when I start feeling the tears fall down my cheeks. I try to keep quiet, keep my face from being seen, but eventually a sniffle breaks out. I feel concern from the Anbu team as Tenzo starts rubbing my back. He'd gotten a lot better at dealing with emotions after being around me and Naruto for so long.
"What's wrong Ki-chan?" He whispers in my ear but I shake my head. I hear him sigh again before he stands back up, walking away from the group.
"Naruto-"
"Is currently having a very animated conversation with Shisui and his cousins." Tenzo supplies. I relax slightly as I feel a breeze hit us.
"Gonna be late."
"You still have over two hours before you have to be in your class." He sits down and I feel us move slightly. I finally pick my head up a little to see we've made it outside and are sitting on the infamous swing in the courtyard. I see families starting to leave the gym and quickly hide my face. The last thing I need is for a future classmate to see me like this. Things are going to be hard enough as it is.
"What was all that about, Kiku? You're normally not like that around other people."
"Genma was being loud."
"You seemed to be able to understand-"
"But Naruto wasn't!" I wipe at my eyes roughly, trying to get the tears away, but Tenzo stops me. He wipes them away gently before making me look at him. "You know he has a hard time staying still or listening for a long time! Each time Genma said something it was another distraction!"
"I should've known you were trying to protect Naruto." Tenzo says as we continue to swing.
"A-and then Genma called me pipsqueak." I hate how broken my young voice sounds. "I-I thought-" I can't finish the sentence, I start crying again, falling back into Tenzo's chest.
"Hey, shh." He rubs circles on my back as I feel Kakashi's chakra come close to us. I feel a hand drop onto the top of my head briefly before he moves beside us. He was getting better at handling our emotions too, but if Tenzo was holding us he'd just hang around instead of talking. I don't blame him. I can be a mess when I get like this. "Can you try talking again?" Tenzo asks once I've calmed down.
"I-I thought," I take a deep breath, "that I was one of Genma's precious people." Cue sniffle. "B-but he's just here cause' he has to be." I feel myself being pulled out of Tenzo's arms before my face is pressed into the shoulder of another person's flak jacket.
"Where the hell did you get that idea?" Genma asks, his voice sounding serious. I just shake my head against his chest while trying to get down, but he holds me firmly. "You guys go on to the barbeque place, we'll meet you there."
"I made bento-"
"That can be saved for tomorrow. I'll put it in your fridge after we drop you back off."
"No." I shake my head again as he sits down in Tenzo's previous spot on the swing.
"Uzumaki-Namikaze Kikuko." Genma says quietly, holding me tightly against his chest. I feel my breathing stop at my full name. "I know you know who your parents were." I stop fighting him at that, how could he know?
Oh right, I did make an attempt to show Naruto the other night. How had he seen that? He wasn't even working, he was asleep on our couch! "One of the last things your dad told me was that if anything were to happen to them, that he wanted me to watch after you, no matter what."
"You don't have-"
"I know I don't have to." He sighs before I feel his hands shift and a kiss on the top of my head. "But you're like a little sister to me. I want to take care of you. I want to be here for you on big days like today. If I had it my way you and your brother wouldn't even be in that apartment-"
"B-but-"
"Hey," He forces me to look up at him. "I was just teasing you earlier. I realized after Tenzo took you away that you were so mad because I must've been distracting Naruto. I'm sorry, Kikuko."
"It's okay." I whisper, looking down and wiping away my tears.
"No, it's not. And I'm sorry for calling you that name, I won't call you that again." I don't know what else to say, so instead of saying anything I toss my arms around his neck and bury my face into his shoulder. I don't know why it upset me so much. It wasn't the name itself, really. It was how it seemed like he didn't want to be here with us for such a big day.
That combined with the stress of things finally beginning to happen, I just couldn't handle it. Genma just holds me on the swing for however long it takes for me to calm down. I honestly lose track of time. That is, until I start feeling hungry.
"What was that about barbeque?" Genma laughs at that, standing from the swing and starting to walk down the road. I pick my head up from his shoulder to look around as we walk.
"Shisui has somehow managed to rope some of the clan kids and their families to go get barbecue together."
"Then why are we going?" Genma snorts at that. Although, I think this is a good thing. Maybe if this turned into a regular thing it could make the Uchiha clan head fight back against the council through legal channels instead of, you know, a coup. Had this happened in the original timeline?
"We're going because Naruto was being Naruto and managed to make friends with Sasuke." I giggle at that, even though the villagers hate us, Naruto can make any shinobi like him if he gets enough time to talk to them.
"Is Shisui paying?"
"Ha!" Genma tosses his head back, "probably not, but I'll cover you and Naruto."
"But-"
"Think of it as part of my gift for you joining the academy." He smiles down at me before reaching into his pocket and placing his senbon back in his mouth.
"You don't have to-"
"Oh shut up and let me spoil you," he rolls his eyes, shifting me on his hip. "It's not everyday that my little siblings get to start school." I feel warmth bloom throughout my chest at the casual mention of me and Naruto being his siblings. "Besides, I have a mission tonight so I won't be there to see you open what I actually got you."
"I can wait." Genma cuts his eyes to me, the look making it clear he doesn't believe a word I said. I lay my head back on his shoulder as I start laughing. "You're right."
"Damn straight, I'm always right."
"Kiku-nee!" Naruto yells as soon as we enter the restaurant, he waves at us wildly from his spot in Kakashi's lap. I smile and wave at him as Genma walks over to the large table. Well, sets of tables. It looks like they had to change around half the tables in the barbeque place to fit everyone. I can clearly see there's the InoShikaCho families, a couple Uchiha families, and the Inuzuka. It takes everything in me not to squeal in excitement at the sight of their dogs.
But then I realize there's only one spot left. By Shikaku Nara. Oh Kami, help me. This is the last thing I need today.
"Ah if it isn't the ancient Jonin." Shisui teases from across the table as we sit down. I can't help it, I start laughing as soon as he finishes the sentence.
"Oh you think that's funny, huh?" Genma asks and I immediately stop laughing.
"No, nope. That was a bad joke, Shisui-san." I say seriously as I reach to grab some rice, but I stop halfway. Genma starts tickling me, and it takes everything in me not to accidentally hit the Jonin commander or Tenzo as I try to get away from the evil older brother keeping me captive.
"Genma!" I huff after a couple of seconds.
"Say uncle!"
"I thought you weren't ancient!" I hear Shikaku snort next to me. Thankfully Genma takes pity on me and stops tickling me after that. And he also cooks the food on the barbeque for me! Probably because I ended up almost starting a fire the last time we went out for barbeque, but that's not important.
"Ne, I've already asked the others, but Kikuko-chan, what are you most excited about for starting at the academy?" Shisui asks after I've taken a large bite of chicken. He laughs at my glare as I finish chewing.
"Fuinjutsu!" I see Ino roll her eyes from her seat across from Shikaku. I suddenly feel really self-conscious. I know most kids are going to say cool ninjutsu or making friends, but I have a feeling we won't be learning any ninjutsu anytime soon and with our track record we probably won't really make many friends.
"What got you into that?" Shikaku asks from my side. I feel my cheeks heat up as I play with some of the food on my plate.
"Well, there was a book on history at the orphanage and I saw it was what the Uzumaki were known for. And then I started reading scrolls about it from the library, and then for my birthday last year, Jiji gave me some of Mito-baachan's journals and those are really, really cool." I feel out of breath after I finish. He doesn't say anything, so I finally look up at him.
"You're probably ahead of what they're going to teach at the academy, then." He says, flipping a piece of meat on the barbeque. I feel myself deflate at that. I was really hoping to learn more. "What are you able to do so far?"
"Um," I pause for a second, holding my chin in my hand. "I can do a basic silencing seal cause' Genma snores really loud." I feel him poke me in the side and immediately flinch away from him. "I can do an okay security seal that stops people from entering if they mean harm or want to do anything bad, too." I see one of Shikaku's eyebrows raise at that but he doesn't say anything. "Although it doesn't work on Genma when he pranks us." I pout at that. I really wish I could get that to work, but Jiji said I wasn't allowed to block Genma out of the apartment.
"You're forgetting a couple, Kiku-chan." Tenzo says, handing me a sausage shaped like an octopus. I smile widely up at him, gladly taking it. It was one of my favorite foods, they're so cute!
"Oh! I can make storage scrolls! And I was able to make a seal that exploded paint!"
"That shot paint out of it." Genma flicks my temple. I turn to look up at him, sticking my tongue out at him.
"You're just mad you had to ask Jiji for another uniform."
"Think you can make a couple of those for me, Kikuko-chan?" Shisui cuts in, his eyes shining with mischief.
"I will pay you double what he offers for you to not make him some of those, Uzumaki-san." Itachi says. I feel my nose scrunch up at the honorific.
"Just call me Kikuko and we're even." Itachi nods slightly in acknowledgement. Are all child prodigies this weird?
"Oh come on, no fair Itachi! You can't have a child prodigy alliance!" Shisui says, tossing a piece of meat at Itachi's face. He catches it on his chopstick.
Wait. Child prodigy? Oh no. Oh no no no. Can't have that name given to me. Nope. Not at all. I feel myself start to spiral-
"You are definitely ahead of what you'll learn in the academy, then." Shikaku says, getting my attention with another sausage octopus.
"Thank you!" I say, taking the sausage.
"You're welcome. I'll look around to see if we have anything on fuinjutsu laying around, I think an old friend of mine left some with me."
"I should have some as well." A kind woman says, leaning around Shikaku to look at me.
"You don't have to-" Both of them wave me off.
"You remind me of one of my genin teammates, she left me some of her notes to pass on to the next generation of fuinjutsu specialists." The woman says.
"Oh and we haven't even introduced ourselves!" Shikaku rolls his eyes good-naturedly at me. The woman notices and smacks his arm lightly. "My name is Nara Yoshino and this is my husband Shikaku. Over there is my son Shikamaru." She points to the boy sitting next to Ino. He already looks so done. I giggle at his expression as I wave at him. Then I turn back to his parents.
"It's nice to meet you-"
"No honorifics, kid." Shikaku cuts me off.
"Oh, she has no problem with that." Genma says under his breath. Naturally, I elbow him in the stomach. "Damnit."
"Oh, you definitely need those scrolls." Yoshino laughs.
"What was your teammate's name?" I see Yoshino look at Shikaku out of the corner of her eye. He gives an almost unnoticeable shrug as he leans back in his seat.
"Her name was Uzumaki Kushi-"
"Your teammate was Konoha's Red Hot-Blooded Habanero?" I yell, Genma slaps his hand over my mouth to muffle the last of my question. I bite him.
"I'm going to get you back for all of this." He grumbles, shaking his hand after he moves it away from my face. I turn back to Yoshino and see a sad smile on her face as she nods in confirmation.
"That's so cool!" I say in awe. Yoshino and Kushina were on the same team? With their tempers? I'm surprised the village is still standing. "Thank you so much!" I say after realizing I hadn't already thanked them. "I'm gonna be the best fuinjutsu master Konoha's ever seen 'ttbane!"
I see a smirk form on Shikaku's face as I hear a muttered "troublesome" from across the table. I'm too excited to even be embarrassed. I'm going to be able to read my mom's notes! Soon, the Nara family gets pulled into a conversation with the rest of InoShikaCho and I'm left to bicker with Genma and Shisui for the rest of lunch.
Maybe things will turn out alright after all.