Obligatory Disclaimer: The series Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto; I only own the OCs, picture, and this story.
Chapter 6: Of School Days and Classroom Bullies
About ten minutes later, I succeeded in regaining my composure. The shouts and cheers of kids at play came in through the window as I wiped my hands off with a handkerchief and patted my face dry. I stared at the little girl in the mirror who stared back, the red surrounding her pale honey-tinted eyes finally receding. She looks more vulnerable than ever standing there, her tiny hands gripped tightly around a tear-soaked handkerchief.
Just what have I gotten myself into?
Sighing, I stuffed my damp handkerchief into a pocket in my bag and finally unlocked the bathroom door. I couldn't hide in there forever, as much as I wanted to. When I entered the hallway it was empty, everyone probably enjoying the outdoors, which led me back to the safety of the classroom. I don't think I could handle a bunch of children at the moment.
Ikeda-sensei was still in the room, getting ready for our next lesson. I regarded her with a strained smile and she simply gave me a nod in return as I walked back to my seat. My appetite was nonexistent but I pulled my bento from my satchel anyway, not wanting it to go to waste. There was a seal on it that kept the food inside warm, an invention of my mother and a friend of hers during their genin days. I also pulled out my bag of marbles as I rarely ever went anywhere without them and pulled a few from the bag.
Coming into this, I knew it wouldn't be easy but I hadn't realized that I would have to prepare for temperamental children alongside the whole potential killing and dying business. I left my bento unopened as I utilized my usual coping mechanism: chakra practice. At this point it comes as easily as breathing. The marbles reacted to the force of my chakra as I expelled it away from my body. They 'floated' away from my hand, one inch, three inches until they stopped a foot away.
Chakra was the only comfort I had these days. I think I was barely a year old when I first felt it, and I had been relaxing on the porch in Mother's arms. It started with an uncomfortable feeling, squirming and wiggling inside my stomach, until it became painful to my young senses. Mother had thought I needed a changing but that hadn't helped. I hadn't known what was going on at the time but it was my coils beginning to awaken. I had sobbed and cried at the feeling until Father placed his hand over my stomach and the cool flow of his chakra had calmed my own. I remembered being cradled by my father then, my mother leaning against his side as we all relaxed in the warm afternoon breeze together.
I miss them. And I miss Home.
I let my head hit the desk as my focus broke and the marbles fell back into my hand. All the talent and foreknowledge in the world wouldn't help me if I couldn't control my emotions. Stupid child emotions.
Sitting up straight, I took a deep breath and focused on my core, following the chakra flows as I always did.
I could do this.
Genjutsu class began as the rest of the students shuffled in from lunch. I had returned to my seiza position and was scribbling down the key events I could remember from the series, in English in case anyone was looking over my shoulder. It was late in the making but as it stood, I had to get everything I could down before I forgot. Though it was disheartening, it was easier to think outside the compound, where everything was closed off and yet so overly exposed. Here, even though it was a ninja academy and you could be, and probably were being watched at all times, it paled in comparison to the complete paranoia that came from living with a clan full of byakugan users. Even if there were rules.
I hid the notebook away as more students walked in and I could feel eyes on me once again. After the confrontation in the hallway, I kind of expected it. There was a tinge of hostility in the air and I looked up. Satomi. She was glaring at me and I looked down at her from my seat with a bored expression. She was going to be a problem but I wasn't going to deal with that now. There was no time in war to bother with petty nonsense.
Something passed over the room as everyone took their seats and every nerve in my body tensed up. Something wrong, something foreign was trying to invade my senses, the normally comforting flow of my chakra beginning to pick up. I dispelled the foreign chakra before it could take hold of my senses, pushing more of mine through my system to flush it away. The other students weren't so lucky. There were a few shouts of alarm around the classroom as whatever was cast fell upon them. I briefly made eye contact with the woman at the podium who gave me a too happy smile before the screaming began.
It was terrifying. The raw terror expressed in those screams reminded me of my third birthday all over again. Someone was crying, another was sobbing and it cemented the fact that I never wanted to be hit with a genjutsu. The Uchiha in the room were the next to come out of it with shaky sighs, followed by Satomi and the Aburame. The Akimichi seemed like she was going to throw up until the Nara brought her out of it with a pulse of chakra, looking not too ruffled himself. All the clan children composed themselves soon enough and the only ones left screaming were the couple of civilian kids in the middle row. But no one moved, staring on in a kind of morbid fascination.
But the longer the screams went, the harder it was to keep my composure until something in me snapped.
I rose from my seat causing many heads to turn as I vaulted over my desk, over Shisui and the row of Uchiha in front of him to the row with screaming children. And I could see it, the way their chakra pathways fizzed and frothed, not flowing like they were supposed to. I lifted a hand, index and middle at the ready to force the foreign chakra away when a lightly tan hand locked around my wrist.
Wakana Ikeda. The cinnamon haired woman's purple eyes blinked lazily into mine as her chakra flowed unbothered throughout her body. She couldn't be older than twenty-five, the age I would've been if I'd been in my other body. In my old life.
"What do you think you're doing Junko-chan?" The familiarity and ease in her tone made my insides curdle. The screaming continued.
"I think-" my voice was low as I spoke, "-it is pretty obvious what I'm doing, Ikeda-sensei."
Her grip tightened. "If these brats can't handle it, they shouldn't be ninja. It's as simple as that."
I'd be completely naïve if I believed she hadn't seen the Nara help out the Akimichi earlier. So either this was a test or she had something against civilians. Either way, I didn't like her. This was inhumane.
"Nothing in life is ever simple," I responded.
She let out an amused snort. "Oh, you think you know something about life brat?"
Wouldn't you like to know.
"I know enough."
In my old life, I wasn't one to let someone to step all other people. I had been incredibly shy but if someone was being unfairly treated, I couldn't stand by and let it happen. I blame the pseudo heroine part of me to all the video games and anime I used to consume. In middle school, I hadn't been one to stand for petty girl drama as it was just bullying to me. I would stand up for whoever was being picked on in the group of friends I had at the time.
Of course, this was more serious than some middle school drama but the same rules applied. Screw the consequences.
My eyes narrowed slightly. "A ninja on the field, no matter how skilled or prepared, cannot be ready for every single obstacle that comes their way. That's how life works."
Her chakra became agitated, flowing a bit faster. I continued.
"Ninja are put on teams for that very reason, so that each can balance the others' weaknesses and blind spots."
My thoughts briefly fell to my parents. They had been on a genin team together and had instilled those values in me. Looking out for each other, watching each other's backs. It was an important strength. I focused.
"Unless I'm wrong, Ikeda-sensei?" I looked her directly in the eye, even as the screams petered into broken sobs.
A few moments passed before the woman released my wrist and I wasted no time in dispelling the foreign chakra from the civilians in the row. The room finally fell silent as the two managed to get their breathing under control. The girl composed herself first and her watery red eyes, obscured by her sandy blonde bangs, stared at me as I moved onto her deskmate. It took a little more chakra to bring the boy to a calm state and he partially collapsed on his desk when he finally composed himself.
Ikeda-sensei grinned as she causally walked back the podium, as if she hadn't just traumatized a room full of children.
"Now that we've gotten that act of altruism out of the way, if Junko-chan will get back to her seat, we can get class started."
I hated her. And this was only the first day class.
I could feel the room's attention on me as I slowly made my way back to my seat. My vision returned to normal as I resumed my seiza and I was distractedly aware of how low my chakra was, the regularly strong flow through my system now a slow stream. The byakugan didn't usually take so much chakra to activate; it usually didn't take much at all but in my less than efficient state, I had haphazardly activated it. I was now aware why hand seals used, for focus and less loss of chakra. Neji made it look easy.
There was a certain feeling in the air as the lesson began, the atmosphere almost choking with how tense it was as everyone in class seemed on edge. But I was more worried about what the elders and Aunt Mei would say if they heard about this.
So much for being obedient.
Throughout the lesson, Ikeda-sensei singled me out on more than one occasion, but I managed to make it to the end relatively unscathed. We had gone through multiple ways to dispel genjutsu and the like, the woman constantly pointing at my 'heroic' actions with that infuriating smile on her face, which I returned with one of my own on a careful mask.
I want go home.
Thankfully, it was the last class of the day since it was a short day, the opening ceremony taking place of morning classes. The rest of the students were sluggish too as they shuffled out of the classroom. I slid from my seat, throwing my notes into my bag with a deep sigh. How was I going to make it through the year with a sociopath as a teacher?
I stretched my arms over my head with a whine, my muscles straining a bit. I let them drop tiredly as I plopped down the steps of the almost empty classroom. I didn't really want to return to the compound but I didn't have much of a choice; with my confrontation during the break, I would have to quell that whole thing with Aunt Mei as soon as possible.
The hallway was full of loud and rowdy children. I caught a glimpse of Kenta and Satomi as I moved through the stream of children who were making their way outside. Kenta tried to catch my eye but I avoided him, my tiny body becoming lost in the crowd. I didn't want to, but it was probably for the best. Him and his sister seemed close and I didn't want to come in between that.
And I was still kind of hurt.
I finally emerged outside, freed from being stuck between peoples' stomachs and butts. Being short sucks. Children rushed to their parents, and I couldn't help the sharp pang of envy and longing I felt as I watched. I moved through the crowd at a lethargic gait, sidestepping rushing bodies until I was finally out of the gates that surrounded the academy.
"Ah, Hyūga-san!"
A young voice called from behind me and I ignored it. I wasn't the only Hyūga in the area, and as a rule of thumb, I didn't respond to random voices calling out my name. Less of a chance for me to embarrass myself if I really wasn't being called. It wasn't as though I knew anyone anyways. I walked down the road slowly, trying to take in as much freedom as I could, when the call came again, accompanied by the sound of rushing feet.
I turned and dodged as a body flew past me and fell to the ground with a puff of dust. I blinked.
It was one of the civilians from class and the other came up right afterward, panting. I wasn't moving that fast, was I?
"Are you okay?" I asked as the boy pushed himself up from the ground, the girl coming to a stop by his side.
"Y-yeah," he coughed, the girl pulling him up to his feet. "Why didn't you stop?"
There was a bit of resentment in his voice, but I shrugged. "There are more than one Hyūga around here, you know."
My words seemed to deflate him and he ran a hand through his longish brown hair agitatedly, making his ponytail stick up in different directions. The girl shook the arm she had in her hold to get his attention.
"Noburu…"
He jerked a bit and his surprisingly bright blue eyes- not as pretty as Minato's though- locked onto mine before he fell into a bow.
"Thank you for helping us!" It came out in an almost unintelligible rush. The girl followed suit at a more normal pace.
Well. That was certainly different.
"You're welcome," I said simply, making eye contact once they rose. "If that's all, I need to get home."
I turned to leave but the girl called out to me. "Wait, Hyūga-san!"
"You can call me Junko." She blinked in surprise but gave a nod.
"Junko-san," she corrected herself. "Why did you help us?"
There was a slight tone of suspicion in her voice but there was also a hopefulness that broke my heart a little. This world was all sorts of messed up; children this young shouldn't be so paranoid already. But I was trying to fix that. I would fix that.
I gave them the first genuine smile I had all day. "Would you rather I not have helped you?"
A visible panic passed over them and they shook their heads frantically in a comical fashion that made me laugh. It was refreshing.
"Does it really matter?" I asked, tilting my head to the side. They both looked at each other before the boy, Noburu, answered.
"Clan kids don't usually stand up for us," he shrugged. "And aren't you some kind of princess or something? I heard that from Satomi in the hallway."
There was disdain in his voice as he said her name but I barely concealed a flinch.
"You shouldn't believe everything you hear," I advised, mentally cursing Satomi in my head.
Way to paint a bigger target on my back. The civilians gave me dubious looks as though they didn't believe me. Either Satomi had a lot of pull in class or these kids believed anything. I guessed it didn't really matter; it was just something I would have to handle.
"If you'll excuse me, I really do need to get home," I said and turned away with a parting smile. "See you in class tomorrow."
I got to the corner before their farewells rang out behind me.
Author's Note
Posted/Edited: September 5th, 2016
Minor edits: January 29th, 2017
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As usual, thanks to those who have followed and/or added this story to their favorites.
Reviews
Thanks to Mina Luriya, k123, UniCryin, Guest, Ceralyn, RadioPoisoning, and Sss for reviewing on the last chapter. I appreciate your feedback!
Junko seems to get herself in trouble quite often, and this isn't even the worst of it. Hopefully, her budding relationship skills will give her some much needed help. And those of you wanting more interactions with a certain Uchiha don't worry! There will be definitely more in the chapters to come.
Next time on For a Chance at Happiness:
Chapter 7: Of Borders and Lines
{in which the family issues continue and things get a little more awkward}