Chapter 6: Friendship

Late one evening, about a month after my schooling began, I found myself in a rather difficult scenario. From an outside perspective, it may appear totally normal. After all, kids hang out at each other's houses all the time. And, of course, having chaperones was completely a natural occurrence. We were children after all. So far so good.

But this begs a very important question, one for which you'll need a decent size spiral notebook to answer. And that is: How on earth did I end up as the ball in a proverbial game of kickball being played by three adults and two kids?

Okay, let me take a step back. It seems I have some explaining to do, and I'll have to tread carefully in order to get all the details right.

So, on my first day of school, I received a slip of paper containing the address of one Asuka Uzumaki. This, on its own, should have been rather a good sign. How many guys receive such vital information from a member of the fairer sex on their literal first day of school? You could probably count the number on one hand, out of billions.

The thing is, after the so-called "Hair-cutting" incident (so-called because it involved me cutting my hair between days, thus revealing to the class that I was, beyond a reasonable shadow of a doubt, male; or, at least, male-presenting), I walked to my shoe locker with Asuka at the end of the school day to find said locker stuffed full with letters. When I opened the locker, they piled on top of me like an avalanche of paper, and I received a not inconsiderable number of papercuts in the process. I had to be rescued and revived to semi-consciousness by Asuka herself with the aid of the boy named Hangetsu Hōzuki, who just happened to be passing by at the time. Afterwards, I was forced to reckon with the mess that had been made.

I discovered, to my horror, that half were letters from various girls asking me to meet them at a certain tree behind the school. I, of course, did no such thing. To be quite honest, I'm partial to my free time, and with so many, I'd have to get Sayaka involved to make a schedule so I would still have time to do my homework.

The other half, to my astonishment and the amusement of the other two, were from boys. Most were either heartbroken that I was apparently unavailable or admissions of jealousy. At least two were love confessions to be added to the pile.

The only good thing to come out of this was that Sayaka and I suddenly had a decent supply of fuel for the fireplace over the coming winter.

I am, unfortunately, only mildly exaggerating for comedic effect. This was a real problem for me, partly because I've always been environmentally conscious and disdained the fruitless waste of paper, and partly because I had no earthly idea what to do with all these confessions. In my prior life, I could only recall receiving such confessions two or three times, and then, only one at a time. Nothing like this.

In any case, the purpose of this delineation of events is that, as a result of the physical and emotional injuries I received that day, I had to put off actually visiting Asuka's house for a bit. This really bummed me out because she was the only person in that class that I actually liked. As friends, of course.

It was, however, convenient for everyone else involved as it allowed the adults to prepare the torment they would have in store for me. In the meantime, Sayaka went up to the school to complain about all the trash, and, from that point onward, tampering with other's shoe lockers was officially banned (but, of course, this was a ninja academy, so that was about as fruitful as an orchard in the Gobi Desert).

The ineffectuality of school policies aside, the rest of my first month was rather uneventful. I learned some useful taijutsu forms and, by the end, found that I was at least marginally stronger than I'd been at the beginning. I was so strong, in fact, that I could just about lift a normal bottle of water unaided.

Really, it was probably for the best that things at school got off to such a light start. They certainly wouldn't stay that way for long. You undoubtedly know to what I'm referring, but that's not the focus of this chapter.

Jumping forward almost to the present, I was sitting in class like any other day. It seemed the initial excitement had worn off rather quickly once people found out that, despite being from out of town, I wasn't actually that interesting of a person. That was good for me as it meant I could maybe leave school without a burning headache for once.

On the day in question, I happened to glance over at Asuka's desk. She sat next to me as per usual. The instructor was going over some basic genjutsu theory. When I looked at Asuka, I saw, to my mild amusement, that her eyes were drooping, and a bit of drool had found its way onto her notebook. Maybe I was a bit sleepy myself, but for some reason, the shape of the puddle on the paper sort of reminded me of a character from a book I'd read in my previous life. What was it again? Something about mist. How fitting.

Anyways, not wanting her to get in trouble for sleeping in class, I lightly tapped her on the shoulder. That turned out to be a huge mistake as, the next thing I knew, I had somehow been shunted headfirst into the desk behind me, which happened to be occupied by Hangetsu Hōzuki. The result being that we both ended up in a pile of limbs, a confused and apologetic Asuka hovering over us. When the other kids looked to see what was happening, there was a bit of an uproar in the classroom. As it turns out, Asuka had somehow managed to toss me in just the right way that I locked lips with Hangetsu, and the girls (and some of the boys) thought that was just neato.

"I'm so - pft - sorry, Hyō-kun. Hehe," Asuka attempted to apologize through fits of giggling. Hangetsu recovered first, shoving me off of him and into the waiting arms of a girl whose name I can't be bothered to remember.

"Kyaaa!" she shouted, squeezing me as tightly as she could to her chest.

"Let go of me, damn it!" I yelled, prying myself out of her grip.

"Enough!" the instructor shouted over the din. At last, the room fell into silence. "You four! Office! Now!"

"But —!" complained the nameless girl.

"No buts! Go!"

I dusted myself off, giving Asuka an embarrassed smile, which she returned in kind. Neither I nor Hangetsu looked at each other directly. The nameless girl had somehow become the fourth wheel on an otherwise (haphazardly) functional tricycle. We marched out of room to a silent note of humor.

"I'm really sorry, Hyō-kun," Asuka repeated once we were out in the hallway. "You were just trying to help me…"

"Yeah. I'll have to keep that in mind going forward," I said atonally. I stole a glance Hangetsu's way, but he seemed more interested in the wallpaper for some reason.

When we arrived at the head instructor's office, we sat at a bench in the hall and went in one by one. I tried to eavsdrop on the others' conversations, but the room seemed to be soundproof.

Probably just as well.

Finally, my turn to go in came. I tried to go in with my head held high, but I don't think it worked as well as I'd hoped.

The head instructor was an intimidating guy. He sat behind an austere wooden desk, looking sternly at me over a pair of shades. He wore a common Kiri Chūnin uniform, with his headband sewed into his left sleeve. He had a bald head, made up for by a thick black beard. His right hand was missing two fingers.

He steepled his hands on the desk. "Please sit, Yuki-san."

"L-listen," I attempted as I sat in the uncushioned wooden chair across from him. "I was just trying to wake Asuka-chan up. I didn't want her to get in trouble. I —"

"I know," he interrupted me. I blinked. "I won't punish you this time, but in the future, you should be more careful."

"What… What about the others?" I asked.

He smiled mysteriously. "And why should I answer that? You're a shinobi. If you want to gain information, you should do reconnaissance."

I stared at him for a long time. I couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. The cast to his face made it hard to tell.

He was good. Credit where credit is due.

In any case, that was a waste of my time. I took that as a dismissal and left the office, quickly returning to the classroom. I found Asuka at her desk, eyes glued on the instructor. I'd never seen her look so intense, so I thought I should tread carefully for the moment. I sat next to her again, but chose to keep my hands to myself this time.

Later, once school was over, I let Asuka go off on her own, watching as she fled the room with her books clutched to her chest. I glanced around, making sure no one was looking, then ducked out the classroom window, using a crack in the brickwork as a foothold to help myself down. I watched from afar as Asuka left the building and walked up to her waiting parents. I shouldn't have been surprised to see they both had the same shockingly bright red hair she did.

As I watched, I felt something tap me on the head. I looked up and scowled. Hangetsu stood over me with my outdoor shoes in his hand, giving me a lopsided grin.

"What?" I asked shortly.

"If you're gonna creep on someone," he said, "you ought to be less obvious about it. And the first step is to retrieve your shoes." He dropped them, letting them fall to the ground below. "No hard feelings, eh?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"About what happened earlier, or about you hanging out of a window watching Uzumaki-san like some sort of creep?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Both."

"Well, whatever." I wasn't looking at him, but I could practically hear the shrug in his voice. "It's not like I didn't enjoy it."

"Can you please go away?"

"Well, since you asked so politely. Hup." I glanced up just in time to see Hangetsu hop onto and over the windowsill, landing gracefully in the grass below. "I'm guessing you don't come from a ninja clan," he said, hands in his pockets. "I can tell."

"Tell this," I said, shooting him the bird.

"In that case," he continued as if I hadn't spoken, "you just let big bro Hangetsu show you the ropes, eh pal?"

"Hm." I let go of the windowsill, dropping to the grass next to him. "I'm not your pal, buddy."

"Whatever. You want help spying or not?"

"I'm not spying!"

"Of course you aren't. Oh, is she with you?" He pointed out a woman in a samurai's hakama towering over the other parents. She was looking my way. "Well, guess we'll have to save this for later."

"I didn't need your help anyway. I could go over to Asuka-chan's any time." I waved to Sayaka as she approached. "She did give me her address, after all."

Hangetsu clicked his tongue. "Is that why you're spying on her?"

"I said I wasn't —!"

"Yeah, yeah. Keep your voice down, bro. You'll never make it in this business if you carry on like that."

"Whatever."

"Hyō-sama," Sayaka said, eyeing Hangetsu, who smiled innocently (an image that was thrown off by his jagged teeth). "Why did you come out that way?"

"No reason," I said mysteriously. I bent down and picked up my shoes. "I need to change shoes. Gimme a minute."

"What am I? Nattō?" Hangetsu asked. "Just gonna ignore me?"

"Anyways," I said, ignoring him, "Sayaka-san, can I go over to a friend's house? She seems a little down in the dumps and I want to check on her."

"Sure," Sayaka said, looking suddenly happier. I wasn't sure if I should be suspicious of that mood change or not. "We'll make a date out of it."

"It's not a date," I muttered. "I'm just hanging out with a friend."

"Yes, dear. Of course, dear."

I sighed, carrying my shoes back to the school entrance. Well, so much for not getting a headache today.

~o~

"Come on, man. You know you liked it," Hangetsu teased.

"Did not," I snapped back.

"Dare I ask what this is about?" Sayaka asked.

"It's nothing really," I said. "Just an embarrassing incident that happened in class today."

"An incident?" Hangetsu asked. "You make it sound like a crime was committed. It wasn't that bad, was it?"

"Well, no… I suppose not."

"See?"

"I mean, it was my own fault that it happened, so I can hardly blame you."

"Now, that's not it at all."

"What happened?" Sayaka asked.

"It's better if you don't —" I started.

"We kissed in the middle of class," Hangetsu said.

"Really?" Sayaka said, pouting. "Damn. I can't believe I missed such a milestone in your life, Hyō-sama."

"It really wasn't one. It was an accident." I gave her the stink eye. "And why, exactly, would you be present for such a thing even if it was the real deal?"

"Oh, my apologies," she said, one hand up in a gesture of contrition. "There's something I failed to tell you about before we came here."

"What?"

She crossed her arms behind her back. "It's a small thing, really. For your parents' benefit."

"What is it?"

"I'm supposed to keep a scrapbook of your various doings in the village, including important milestones, so your parents can have memories of this part of your childhood later on."

"I…" I wrinkled my brow. "That's…"

Hangetsu clapped me on the back, to my irritation. "Well, buddy. Looks like it's official."

"I told you, Hōzuki-san. You're not my buddy."

He smirked. "No. You said I'm not your pal. You specifically called me 'buddy.' Didn't he, Gotō-san?"

Sayaka nodded. "You did say that, Hyō-sama. I could hear you from across the playground."

I glared at nothing in particular, then shook my head, looking forward. "Well, whatever. Looks like we're here."

As I'd indicated, Asuka's apartment was in front of us, or rather, we were in front of it. It was tall and cylindrical like most of the buildings in Kiri. Slightly worn and austere, it appeared to be a common residence, not unlike the one Sayaka and I shared. Shinobi families often had their own residences, but since Asuka was from out of town, I supposed they hadn't had time to lay down those sorts of roots here.

Sayaka held open the door and we entered. Asuka's unit was on the fourth floor. The door to the unit was nothing special from the outside, but I supposed it wouldn't be, would it? I knocked three times, then waited.

The person who answered was an older man, probably somewhere in his early-40's. He towered over even Sayaka, who stood at a crisp 180 centimeters, with Asuka's garish red hair cut short and neat, and an obscene amount of freckles. He wore simple black trousers and a white shirt.

He watched us with a measure of confusion, then smiled when his eyes landed on me. I say 'smile,' but there was something distinctly ominous in it that I'm unsure how to describe. It was like his eyes were boring into my very soul.

"Ah. You must be young Hyōsuke Yuki-san," he said, a chipper tone of voice that didn't quite match the look in his eyes. "Asuka has told me quite a bit about you. I'd expected you sooner."

"My apologies, Uzumaki-san," Sayaka said with a slight bow. "It was partly my fault for the delay."

He glanced at her appraisingly. "Well, come in. Asuka's taking a nap right now, but she should be up in a few minutes or so. In the meantime, I believe Kiku is making some tea if anyone would like a cup."

"I'll take one," Hangetsu announced. Asuka's father barely gave him any notice as he waited for us to change into house shoes.

"By the way, my name is Marechiyo Uzumaki," he said, almost off-handed. "I know young Hyōsuke's name, but…"

"Sayaka Gotō," Sayaka said, inclining her head. "I have served as personal retainer to the Yuki clan for ten years."

"A clan, eh?" said Marechiyo. "Where did you say you were from again?"

"Iron Country, sir," Sayaka said.

"Not you. You." He glanced at me. To the side, Sayaka fidgeted with embarrassment.

"Uh, Yukimura," I said. "To the south."

"I see." Finally, he spared a modicum of attention for Hangetsu. "And you? You're the Second Mizukage's nephew, aren't you?"

"Great nephew," Hangetsu corrected with a shrug.

"Wait, really?" I asked. "You never mentioned that."

"Meh. I never knew him, so who cares." He looked at Marechiyo. "It's Hangetsu. I have to ask," he said without so much as a pause for breath. "Does Uzumaki-san often take naps on weekdays?"

Marechiyo took a seat on a sofa in the living room. It was… Well, it should have come as no surprise since my and Sayaka's apartment had a similar design ethos, but it was shockingly western in style. I had to wonder where they got it. With a large couch dominating the space and two smaller plush chairs to the side and a coffee table in between them, it looked cozy. Familiar.

Some ways behind the couch was a small dining room, and sitting at the table was Asuka herself. Well, not so much sitting as hunched over, her head resting on her arms. There were papers scattered over the table, seeming to have fallen by the wayside. It looked she had fallen asleep rather suddenly. Someone had taken the liberty of draping a blanket over her shoulders, though it looked like it was slipping off.

"To answer your question," said Marechiyo, glancing at Asuka as she loudly snored away in the corner. "Yes. This is a common occurrence." He shook his head. "The Medic-nin over at Kiri General say she has something called narcolepsy. She just randomly falls asleep, while she's doing homework, during dinner. I don't entirely understand it. She certainly gets enough sleep at night."

Come to think of it, she'd been on the verge of falling asleep in class earlier today. Even during practical lessons, I'd caught her once or twice curled up in a ball at the back of the crowd, snoozing away, only to wake up, fully alert, ten minutes later. I wondered that she hadn't gotten in trouble for it yet. Maybe she had a note from a doctor?

What an inconvenient condition for a ninja to have.

As I watched her sleep, an older woman emerged from the kitchen with a tray full of cups and a steaming pot of tea. The woman had chin-length red hair parted down the middle, with some tied in back, and wore a lavender kimono with a swirl symbol emblazoned on the back. She set her tray down on the dining room table and pulled the blanket up Asuka's shoulders before carrying the tray into the living room. I noticed Asuka stirring in her sleep, but turned to regard her mother as she passed out and filled porcelain cups for each of us.

"Thank you, Kiku," Marechiyo said, nodding.

"Hey. Gotō-san," said Hangetsu. "You said you're keeping a scrapbook, didn't you? For Hyō-kun?"

"What are you bringing that up for?" I asked, annoyed.

Hangetsu smirked. "No reason."

"Of course," Sayaka said, reaching into the folds of her hakama. "I brought it with me."

"You didn't…" I breathed. For some reason, I was suddenly gripped with an unquenchable terror. This was… the worst possible outcome. I should have just come here alone!

"As a matter of fact, I've been keeping it at Eri-sama's request for quite a few years now."

"Oh my god…" I curled in on myself, covering my face with my hands.

"Don't be so embarrassed, Hyō-sama," she said with an air of laughter. "You've always been cute."

"Men aren't supposed to be cute," I protested.

"What are they supposed to be?"

"Badass!" I said.

"Sexy," Hangetsu said at the same time. I opened the fingers to glare at him.

"Well, you're a tad young for such labels," Sayaka said, shaking her head. "Besides, it's good to be cute."

"I agree," said a girl's voice behind me.

"Gah!" I yelped, turning to find Asuka hovering behind the couch, wide awake and sunny of disposition. "You! Were you just pretending to sleep?!"

"Of course not," she declared, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I just woke up and happened to overhear the conversation."

"I apologize if we woke you, Uzumaki-san," Sayaka said with a bow of her head.

"Nah," Asuka waved her off. "It was about time anyways."

Now I was starting to wonder. Maybe her condition could be an advantage if an enemy thinks you're asleep when you're actually not.

It'd still be pretty risky though since there's always the possibility that you really are asleep.

"Here you go, Asuka-chan," said Kiku, handing her daughter a piping cup of tea.

Asuka took a sip, then leaned over the couch to get a better look at Sayaka's scrapbook, a mischievous look on her face. I groaned. "Wow, Hyō-kun," she chirped. "You had super pinchable cheeks."

"Can we please not?" I attempted.

"Nope," Asuka said. "We cannot not."

"I agree," said Hangetsu. "Lemme see." He made it halfway before I caught him by his wrist.

"Not you," I said, glaring.

Hangetsu shrugged. One minute, I had my hand on his wrist. The next, he'd somehow slipped right out, the only evidence that he'd been caught the dewy droplets of water on my hand.

What? What did that remind me of? Damn my memory. If only I had the source material on hand!

"She's right, Yuki-san," he said, whistling. "I don't see what you're so embarrassed about."

"You see?" Sayaka said.

"No!"

"What's he doing here?" asked Kiku.

"Oh." Sayaka smirked. "This one was after a particularly intense training session." She put a hand to her cheek. "He just crawled into his mother's lap and was fast asleep. How could I possibly resist?"

"You took a picture of that?!" I demanded. "I don't even remember you being there!"

"You were rather out of sorts at the time. Your father said you struggled more with wind ninjutsu than water ninjutsu."

"Right… Yeah, I remember." I shuddered at the memory. The leaf cutting exercise. I remembered that from the original story, but somehow, I never imagined it being so damn difficult. I could barely feel my arms by the end of the first session, and I hadn't even managed to make a perforation.

"Oh yeah," Hangetsu said, looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "You did say you could use two chakra natures, didn't you. Wind and… what, water?" I nodded. "Hm… Do you have a natural affinity for both? I can't think of any other reason a kid who hasn't even started at the academy should be learning two… Huh. I wonder what you'd get if you mixed them? I've heard that's something that can happen? That'd be a bloodline limit, wouldn't it?"

I clenched my jaw while Hangetsu rambled. Should I tell them about that? I still wasn't sure if I felt comfortable with that.

"You know," said Marechiyo. "If you ever need help with wind ninjutsu, both Kiku and I have an affinity for it."

"Does that mean I do too?" Asuka asked.

"Maybe," he shrugged. "It doesn't always work out so cleanly. Really, as an Uzumaki, you're more likely to have a water affinity. We'll have to test it at some point."

Sayaka glanced at me questioningly. I shook my head, to which she nodded minutely. She flipped a page in her scrapbook. The bright smile that spread across her face when she saw what was on it chilled me to the bone.

The truth was, I was in Hell. Mind you, not an uncomfortable one. One way or another, I'd get her back for this. In the meantime, I gritted and bore it as the others laughed, oh-ed and ah-ed at my embarrassing childhood photos, and, eventually, we had dinner right there in the living room.

I'd have to get Sayaka back for this. Nothing extreme, of course. It wasn't that big a deal. Something like a chewed up wad of gum in her hair. Embarrassing, but easily dealt with.

Yeah. That'd do. After all, what else were friends for, if not to laugh with and at each other?

-0-

AN: Here are the names for this chapter.

Marechiyo Uzumaki - 渦巻 稀千代

Kiku Uzumaki - 渦巻 菊