Knitting Fate

Second installment in Canon Patchworking with Uchiha Ren series

Tenth Thread

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This chapter has been beta'd for you by hestia8639. Thanks a lot!

Official beta'd version posted 04.08.2017

"The capacity for friendship is God's way of apologizing for our families."

― Jay McInerney, The Last of the Savages

0

"Um, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asks, uncertain, shifting her weight from one leg to the other. She has mostly gotten over her crush on the boy (and might've developed something akin to it on someone else), but he still makes her nervous with his cool and aloof demeanor.

"Hm?" he hums, looking up at her, and a few girls glare at the pinkette.

"I was wondering…" she starts, and digs in her pockets, producing a small blue decorative paper. "Would you, um, like to go to my birthday party this week?" she asks, and some of the girls smirk at her. Surely the great and perfect Sasuke-kun would never attend the birthday party of someone like her…

"Sure," he nods once, taking the blue paper into his hands.

For a brief moment, the classroom is so still and silent that Sakura is nearly certain she hears the tiny spider in the corner, as it stretches its webbing.

Then, there's an outcry of rage.

"FOREHEAD!" Yamanaka Ino bellows, rising from her bench. She growls, as do some other girls, and makes her way towards Sakura, and the tiny pinkette feels like she's shrinking even more.

"How dare you invite Sasuke-kun to your birthday party!" one girl, her bully, she recognizes, bellows. "What did you do to make him agree?!"

Sakura feels like crying, and running, or both, but Hana and Ren are not in school today, having already left on the trip to Hokage tower and will be gone for at least three hours. And against these girls – these shinobi-raised girls – she stands no chance, even if she tries to run.

"Back off, Yamanaka," Sasuke hisses suddenly, voice so full of venom that Sakura can't help but flinch. And the class goes eerily silent, again, as the girls look at him in complete and utter shock. "Sakura is my friend, and I will not tolerate you bullying her. Is that clear?"

Sakura's mind is very, very blank. Before Ren came, she had been just one of his many rabid fangirls. Then, Ren happened and she… she hasn't even been spending much time around him at all, too absorbed in following Ren and wanting to become the absolute kickass the older girl is. Or, at least, as kickass of an eight-year-old Sakura could be.

"But…!" one of the girls starts to protest, but Sasuke just huffs and rolls his eyes. And Sakura be damned, because that's a glint of mischief in his eyes.

"How about you sit with me, Sakura?" he asks with a smirk, and some of the girls make sounds like they're choking or having heart attacks. Sakura, however, is not dumb, and she catches on instantly.

"Of course, Sasuke-kun!" she chirps as she plops onto the seat on his right. With Naruto on his left, who somehow managed to slip into the classroom during the fangirl alert, and Kiba, Choji and Shikamaru sitting in front of them, he's safe and secluded from everyone that he isn't comfortable around – or, simply put, everyone else in the classroom, because they sit in the very back bench by the window. Sakura is fairly sure that this is the way they are going to remain seated for the majority of their time at the Academy.

The pinkette smiles very sweetly at the other girls, who send her glares. However, it's not much of a glare – there are five boys who glare at them right back.

(That is Ren's influence, for sure. She calls it 'all for one and one for all'.)

"Guys," Sakura says after the majority of the class settles back into their seats, and digs into her backpack. "I have invitations for you, too!"

"Sweet!" Naruto chirps, eyes glittering as he gently looks at his invitation.

"Cool, you got Akamaru covered, too," Kiba grins, and his dog just barks.

"Will there be food?" Choji asks, and almost everyone snorts at the question.

"Of course there will be food," Shikamaru huffs. "It's a birthday party, for crying out loud. Getting you a present will be so troublesome, though. What do girls even like?"

"You tell me, Nara," Sasuke huffs. "You're supposed to be geniuses."

"I don't have an older sister who knows what other girls like," Shikamaru bites back instantly, and Sasuke just rolls his eyes.

(Shikamaru is right, though, and Sasuke knows it, even if he'll never, ever admit it.)

Her parents will most likely flip at the fact that the majority of the people she's invited are boys, and the only girls she has listed are nearly graduating from the Academy. Honestly, she really, really wants to see their reactions.

"Naruto and Sakura already briefed me on what happened in class this morning and I even understood most of it, somehow," is the first thing Ren says as Sasuke runs up to her. He puffs his cheeks at that, and she only laughs and wraps her arms around the boy. "I'm so proud of you, Squirt."

Sasuke doesn't answer. Instead, he just buries his head in her side, into the folds of her blue kimono-coat. Ren winces ever so slightly, even though it doesn't hurt at all, not anymore. But the sole fact that such a motion would have left her screaming in pain just a month and a half ago is enough. Because Uchiha and Sharingan-induced memory are evil, and Ren does have the sharingan. Actually, she should start training it soon, unless she wants to have her ass handed to her the second that a more serious fight ensures. If she understands it right, her vision will change, and the sudden transition from four hundred and eighty pixels to full HD? That might be startling.

"Sakura asked me to come to her birthday," Sasuke murmurs into her shirt, barely audible at all. "I said I'll go."

"Don't worry, she asked me, too," Ren chuckles, ruffling his hair. (How on earth does something so soft stay so ridiculously shaped?) "I'm going, too. Did you know that Hana and I will be the only girls there?"

"Really?" he asks, looking up at her in surprise.

"Really," she nods. "You see, Sakura didn't have many friends before us. Only Ino."

"Ino?" Sasuke squints his eyes, trying to connect face with name. "You mean that Yamanaka blonde? They hate each other!"

"They used to be friends, but they aren't anymore," Ren sighed. "Sakura should have more female friends. I understand she likes hanging out with you, but you deserve a breather once in a while."

"Nee-san!" Sasuke whines, partly offended which causes Ren to instantly start cackling. His face is absolutely priceless.

After some coaxing, Ren manages to convince Sakura to invite Hyūga Hinata over for her birthday. It's not at all difficult, really – Hinata is a loner, especially now, too shy to actually approach anyone herself. It's easy for Sakura to take pity on the girl, because she partly sees herself in the white-eyed Hyūga heir. At least now she has the girl covered and could just talk to her on Sakura's birthday party. And yes, Ren does feel very, very, very stupid for forgetting about one of her main favorites. That's what life does to people, kids.

(Ren isn't going to admit it out aloud, but she genuinely forgot about the girl, her time consumed by Hana and the members of the future Rookie Nine that she's managed to gather so far. That is a matter that needs addressing. Actually, aside from Hinata, there's just one more person she needs to split her attention for. As soon as possible, too, given that he's still at the Academy.

This means that a certain piece of shit hasn't made his move yet, and if she can help it, gods be her witness, she will.)

Speaking of which.

"Hi," Ren says, walking over to the two boys seated under the tree. She finally managed to shake off Sasuke and Naruto, as they went to play with others under Hana's guard. She allows herself to wander away to them to see what she could do. "Are you an Aburame?"

Tiny-Shino looks up at her from the gigantic cicada carcass he's holding (where the fuck did he even get that?!) and narrows his eyebrows, and tiny-Torune follows his example. She can't see their eyes through their Aburame-glasses, but she knows they're suspicious. Who wouldn't be.

"Yes, why?" Shino asks finally, and Ren smiles gently, falling onto her knees and sitting on her heels by them.

"You talk to bugs, yes?" she asks, and receives one enigmatic nod. "Can you talk to spiders, too?"

"Are you, by chance, Uchiha Ren?" Torune asks, catching her off-guard. Honestly, is she that famous in the Academy already?

"Yes," she agrees. "How did you know?"

"Uzumaki and Haruno just won't stop talking about how awesome and amazing you are. Uchiha pitches in sometimes too," Shino admits. "What is it that you want?"

"I was just wondering if you can talk to spiders," she says, reaching under the folds of her kimono and pulling out a handful of Awai. The big huntsman spider barely fits in her twelve-year-old hand, and his legs just dangle around. "Sometimes I wonder what goes through his head."

"Hm, I could try, but I have never spoken to a spider before," Shino admits, reaching slowly towards the creature. "But I'll try. Why? Because I don't refuse a challenge."

Whether or not Ren has to bite the inside of her mouth to not squeal at Shino's famous 'why', she'll be taking the secret to the grave.

And that is basically how Ren comes to spend the rest of the afternoon with the Aburame kids. In all honesty, who would've thought that vivisecting a year-old carcass of a massive cicada (that monster is at least twice Awai's size!) could be this fun? On the other hand, it also gives Ren insight on the horrors of summer in Konoha. Although those monstrosities are mostly found outside the walls, some do find their way inside, and for Ren, whose sleep could be interrupted with a slightest sound? A cicada outside the window would be a living nightmare.

The Aburame Twins, as she has started to jokingly refer to Shino and Torune, as the two did everything together, are very okay with mutilating the corpse of the monster. When asked about it, they just shrug it off.

Aburame affiliate with small bugs, Shino had said. Ren shuddered, because she knows that he meant Aburame make holes in their skin and allow little bugs to crawl in and out and run along under their skin through their veins and muscles and chakra system and-

No. Fuck no. She is not thinking that. Not now, not ever.

She likes Shino. Like, she really, really likes him. It doesn't, sadly, make him any less creepy (said the girl with a giant spider on her head.)

Sakura's parents really know how to throw a party. It's as big as the one that was thrown for Ren, but obviously planned and made by adults rather than a bunch of children ranging from thirteen to four, one woman who can't understand how someone can not like rice, two socially awkward secret-murderers-and-also-gossips and one overpowered old man who's also a ninja president.

No. This party was made by adults, and it shows. Everything is… clean, and clear and so even. There is commitment, but it's of a different sort. It shows in quality rather than in that every single decoration was made by hand, messily but with love. No, the decorations here are all store-bought, and Ren actually even knows which store they're from. She and Sasuke pass it when they return to Hokage estate from Konoha's eastern park, where their little gang of Ren's minions (as Hana has taken to calling them) tends to meet and play at local playground more often than not.

And one look on their faces is enough to tell that they sure as hell did not expect their daughter to invite five boys over. Damn the fact they're all in the same class, because Sakura invited only three girls, two of which are six years her seniors.

"Uhm, welcome?" Haruno Mebuki says with a polite yet nervous smile, and Ren has a hard time fighting a scowl. Standing beside her, she can tell that Hana hardly remains neutral face-wise, as well. Everything in the woman screams 'civilian' to their faces, loud and clear and deafening. From her sluggish greeting and no knowledge on how to act around shinobi to her perfect outfit and hair and delicate hands that bear no kunai-induced callouses. Right up to her perfect, flawless skin that has never been marred by more than a needle or kitchen knife.

"I'm Uchiha Ren," Ren answers instead of the growl that stubbornly keeps building up in her throat, and produces a pale blue card. "This is my cousin, Sasuke, and those are Inuzuka Hana with her brother, Kiba, and their ninken. Sakura invited us over."

"Ah, yes," the woman eyes the dogs warily. "She was pretty… ecstatic about you coming. Do you… do you mind leaving your animals outside?"

Both Kiba and Hana make a very offended noise instantly. Kiba already has his mouth open, most likely to trash-talk the woman up and down, but his sister slams her palm against his lips instantly and smiles. It's a dangerous, feral smile. Enough so that even Ren takes a step back – Inuzuka are like dogs. Playful, honest, loyal. And dangerous as hell when provoked.

"Yes," she says, voice low and almost a growl. "We are Inuzuka, and our ninken are vital parts of us. I assure you, though, they behave well indoors."

Mebuki gulps gently and then closes her mouth so hard, that her lips turn into a thin line. Then, she nods and steps aside, allowing them in.

Ren sighs heavily, ruffles her hair, then ruffles Sasuke's hair for good measure, and looks around. It's a picture-perfect modern family house. Civilian house. Honestly, Ren isn't there just to wish Sakura happy eighth or to talk to Hinata. Or to give Sakura that dress she and Sasuke bought her, with Sasuke being her measure and actually having to try it (which, by the way, was an absolutely precious moment). Actually, she's there to see how Sakura acts around her parents, and how they are, how they act.

And then, to plan every single move of her fight with it. Sakura is not going to become the useless girly girl she was in Pre-Shippuuden. Not if Ren can help it. With the way they eye them, half-suspicious, half-surprised already shows that they don't take their daughter's decision to be a ninja seriously.

'She'll grow out of it', they surely say. And Ren is there to show them just how wrong they are.