A/N: And the third chapter is here! Finished is some days ago already but... I'm lazy. I hope you enjoy this, I'm currently working on the next one. And some art of the central OCs.

In the shadow of a ginkgo tree

Chapter 3: Academy

Shinju looked at the Academy before her and clutched onto her mother's hand. It wasn't an imposing building but she still felt apprehensive of starting to spend several hours a day there, with strangers. With kids that were actual kids.

She'd had such a nice routine before. Home with mother or grandfather. Playing some but training gradually more and more. Taijutsu, shurikenjutsu, molding chakra…

And Uchiha kenjutsu.

Hatori had been insistent about it. Apparently kenjutsu was slowly going out of style so to say in favor of ninjutsu and genjutsu. Shinju was quite excited to learn it and put her everything into training.

There was a clock ticking for her time with Hatori. She'd make the most of it.

Besides… She'd never be a Nara. Mitsuru and Ikoma never married and thus Shinju's existence if discovered to be in relation to them, would be a scandal. So she might as well be a pseudo-Uchiha.

And now would be Shinju's first test. Would she pass simply as a Kinoshita, last of the family of unlucky women? Her mother used to say that when she was in school, no one questioned her heritage and were cordial to her but she hadn't been particularly close to anyone until graduating.

There were teachers reading the class listings. Apparently, there'd be three full classes of children. The war and Kyuubi had cut down this particular generation. Shinju wagered that Rookie 9 and the next two years would be the biggest because of post war baby boom.

"Katsunuma Tomoko… Kinoshita Shinju… Kitagawa Akio…" Ah, there was her new teacher. A kunoichi about Mitsuru's age. Shinju perked at the sound of her name and then looked up at Mitsuru with a tentative smile but froze when she saw the woman staring at the teacher with pursed lips.

"Okaasan?" Shinju asked. "What is it?"

Mitsuru blinked, snapped out of daze, and looked down at Shinju.

"Don't worry, Shin-chan. Just be good to your new teacher and make a lot of friends. Okay?" Mitsuru smiled and patted Shinju's head.

"Un." Shinju nodded and gave one last hug to mother before hurrying to join her classmates gathering before the teacher.

"Hello everyone." The teacher began. She was quite pretty. Wearing standard Konoha blues and chuunin vest and her hitai-ate as hairband like Sakura would. Her hair was black with faint bluish tint and her eyes were pale green. She had high-cheekbones and only lightly make-up. "My name is Nakajo Fusae and I'll be your teacher for the next years, hopefully until your graduation."

There were sometimes class shuffling and merging depending on how many dropped out or were pulled to apprenticeships. Alternatively, some students joined late, being born and raised by patrolling shinobi or part of undercover op. Early graduations were rare. Itachi was currently the last one to graduate really early while otherwise the age bracket for graduating was from ten to thirteen. So Shinju expected to be in school at least five years. Maybe more. Depended a lot how well she'd do and how well she'd stay under radar. But she had the goal not to graduate until she was eleven.

Wait… Did the teacher say her name was Nakajo Fusae? As in father's wife?

Fuuuu-…

Fusae looked up from the class listing at her new class shuffling to their seats. It was this year's batch that she'd been curious about and been waiting for.

To see if she could find Ikoma's child.

When Ikoma had become the clan heir and thus Fusae's new fiancé, he'd been quite uncomfortable. Fusae hadn't been too pleased herself either. Not by being dismissed by Shikaku, not by being passed on like some commodity, not by both of their families clinging onto the contract despite the obvious breach.

Ikoma had been uncomfortable but despite that he'd been courteous.

And honest.

"I have a girlfriend already." He'd confessed to her in the privacy of his house. They had been allowed to have some meetings together without chaperones to get to know each other. The equivalents of o-miai had been rushed through quickly. "The clan didn't know… and I doubt they'd approve of her anymore."

"Who is she?" Fusae asked. It was all together unpleasant situation for them all.

"I can't…" Ikoma sighed. "I won't tell you. She is better left into anonymity…"

There was a pause.

"She is with a child."

That was unexpected. Fusae stared at him in disbelief.

"So are you abandoning her because your clan won't approve of her?" She asked sharply. Ikoma flinched.

"Once we are married, I will stay faithful to you. I cannot promise to love you, not yet. But I will honor my vows." He began. "That said, the child – once born – will be mine. And I intend to support my… former lover monetarily through my mission pays. I'll send the cash with my summons so the clan won't track her from my finances."

"Do you think it likely? That they'll go after her?"

"Considering what they are saying about Kinokawa-san, I have no doubt those accusations would be extended to her as well… I'm not as strong-willed as Shikaku. I was never meant to be the heir… But if there is one thing I can do, it is to prevent my love and my child being dragged into this mess. I do not want her to be accused of honey-potting me. Or having claims of line-theft being thrown about."

Fusae could accept that. And Ikoma indeed was mysteriously absent only a couple of times before the wedding, presumably helping his lover while he still could.

At their wedding night, Ikoma didn't touch her more than a couple of chaste kisses worth before settling to sleep. Fusae accepted that too. He wasn't ready. And frankly, neither was she.

What she could not accept was Ikoma dying. The Nara clan pushed Fusae to the side soon after as she was not with a child herself. She was simply a widow of a clan heir. The succession needed to be secured and thus Shikaku and Yoshino were taken back in. The clan was reluctant but as Yoshino gave birth to twins – the older of which was a boy – they were satisfied in the end.

Fusae was not satisfied. But it had nothing to do with her position and everything to do with the fact that she could not help Ikoma's child. Ikoma was dead and thus he could not support his loved one. Ikoma was dead and his child was fatherless. Ikoma was dead and Fusae did not know where the child was.

When the Kyuubi struck, she didn't even know was the child even alive.

Fusae had become a teacher to find the child. To reassure herself that something of Ikoma was still alive.

The previous class she assisted with had graduated without much problems. This year, she had a class completely of her own. A class that potentially had Ikoma's child among them.

There was a good heaping of clan kids and some civilians too. A couple of children from smaller shinobi lineages.

Fusae looked at them and searched for any Ikoma's features she could find. She dismissed the Nara and the Alliance clans as those could not have remained a secret. Actually, she dismissed all the clan kids as otherwise Ikoma's monetary help wouldn't have been so dire. That left her with ten or so children…

But only one of them was watching her with apprehension. Oh, she was concealing half of her expression by tucking her chin in while leaning against her palm and her hair was flopping to cover the right side of her face… But there some something in the shape of her nose and the surroundings of her eyes that told Fusae who exactly Kinoshita Shinju was.

She was so relieved to find the girl alive and well.

Shinju couldn't keep her eyes off Fusae. She could see why the woman had been picked as future wife of the clan head and been passed on to Ikoma. Nara clan had wanted to hold onto her talent and looks.

And she was obviously smart too. Not only for making it as a teacher but the way she clocked on Shinju and something akin to recognition flashed in the woman's eyes before turning towards the rest of the class and starting the introduction.

Shinju crossed her fingers and hoped that Fusae would not go running to the clan and tattle. What had Ikoma even told the woman?

The first day was nerve-wracking. So were the next ones. At home Shinju confronted Mitsuru for not warning her despite obviously recognizing Fusae at school yard.

"I didn't except you to recognize her name…" Mitsuru muttered from where she was preparing dinner. Shinju crossed her arms.

"It's hard not to when she is one of the people shafted due clan politics." The girl retorted. "And now I'm nervous about the possibility of otousan having told her something."

Mitsuru bit her lip and remained quiet.

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. Nakajo-san is smart woman who won't be tattling anyone."

"And you know this how?"

"We were on the same class at the Academy and thus worked together occasionally. Nakajo-san is quiet and trustworthy."

"… It's been twenty years since then."

"Not quite." The woman corrected. Shinju huffed.

"Details."

Mitsuru refused to talk about the matter further and thus left Shinju stewing in her paranoia. She frankly wasn't sure should she be more worried of being recognized as an Uchiha or a Nara. Both had their downsides. With the Uchiha it was her literal life on the line. With the Nara… it was her life but in different way. It was something she'd need to live with. So technically it was worse though not as dangerous.

"Kinoshita-san, would you stay after class?" Fusae said as the children were packing their supplies at the end of the day. Shinju looked up from where she was stuffing her books to her backpack and nodded.

"Of course, Nakajo-sensei." The girl replied since she didn't have any excuse to not agree. She finished packing and tried to ignore her sweaty hands. Inuzuka Shippou patted her on the back while walking past. She was the first kid in this class to have been asked to stay behind. Shippou was a nice kid. Quiet and calm for being an Inuzuka but he also had very fierce temper that had him quite narrow-sighted when roused. And for some reason some kids roused it frequently in taijutsu spars. Thought that Shippou being calm and not having a nin-ken yet, would be easy pickings. Oh, they were very wrong.

During the first few weeks that school had been going on, Shinju had gotten moderately acquaintanted with her classmates. Or at least got a feel about their basic personality and behavior. The Inuzuka twins Shippou and Mimi were fun but not rambunctious. Mimi was more talkative and competitive but not as temperamental as Shippou. Uchiha Taikou was obnoxious and a total jerk. Probably worse than Sasuke would ever be. Yamanaka Momiji was the shortest kid in the class who went around talking with everyone or then slipping out of the classroom in search of his cousins. Sukima and Jimei were orphans that stuck together. They were a bit behind in the terms of reading comprehension and numbers, probably because how understaffed the Konoha orphanages were…

Speaking of orphanages… Shinju managed to spot Yakushi Kabuto on the class few years above her. The academy grapevine told her he was slated to graduate after this year. At least that was one less worry for her.

With the rest of the class gone from the classroom, Shinju trooped down the aisle running between the lecture seats. Fusae was patiently waiting for her by the teacher's desk.

"How are you Kinoshita-san?" Fusae asked gently. "Do you like your lessons?"

"I like them fine." They were very easy but some – like learning to read and write Japanese – were a good exercise. "What did Nakajo-sensei want to talk to me about?"

"I have some scrolls here that I believe belong to you."

Scrolls? Shinju hadn't left any scrolls behind. The only scrolls she even read were the technique ones at Hatori's and those Shinju would never even take home not to mention to school.

Fusae just chuckled at Shinju's frowning face and produced two scrolls from her desk.

"Here. I've looked after them these past years but it is time that you have them." Fusae said simply and then lowered her voice. "Ikoma-san wrote these just before he was sent to his last mission."

"…" Shinju's eyes widened at the declaration and she reached with both hands to receive the scrolls. They were dark green color but the middle belt was of pale gold. "Thank you, sensei…" She whispered.

"You're welcome. I couldn't help you before, but if there is ever the need, know that I will support you and your mother." The woman told her.

"I'll keep that in mind." What else could Shinju say? She didn't dare to immediately agree to anything nor could she dismiss the offer.

"Go on. There's a wonderful weather outside." Fusae smiled understandingly and gave Shinju an out to leave the classroom. Shinju bowed hastily and rushed out as quickly as she politely could. She wasn't running away. She wasn't.

At home Shinju took out the scrolls from her bag and opened one of them. Well, tried to. After a bit of a struggle, she managed to prick her finger into a hidden needle in the scroll belt and as a result the scroll finally opened.

"Ouch…" The girl muttered and stuck her finger to her mouth. Stupid shinobi security systems… probably keyed to direct blood relation to Ikoma… Shinju probably should've expected that and not try recklessly opening unknown scrolls.

This scroll was littered in storage seals, with each of them reading 'letter' or 'book' or 'gift'. Each were numbered too, up to sixteen. Shinju frowned as a thought came to her. Was this… years' worth of birthday gifts and messages from Ikoma? Had he anticipated something happening due war and thus prepared accordingly? There were even some seal labeled as 'New Years' money'.

She could not help the tears from falling. These scrolls… they were full of proof that her father had loved her.

A/N: Did you expect some jealousy and bitchyness from Fusae after all? Nah. She is nice. Scheming, but nice.

Replies to reviews:

- garneauyoann:
Thank you very much! I'll try my best!

- Kog6943: (guest)
Yep. She is cynical. Being a Nara is one factor. The other is the general wariness of being an Uchiha.

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Thank you for reading. See you again some time!