Knitting Fate

Second installment in Canon Patchworking with Uchiha Ren series

Thirty-Eighth Thread

•••

This chapter has been beta'd for you by Hinotoriko.

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"Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak."
― Thomas Carlyle

0

Sometimes there were days when Ren did things that made her wonder deep within if perhaps she might be a tad masochist.

Or there were certain days; like this one, where the only female Uchiha went off to do training-like torture with Gai. It's then with sweat dripping down her arched-fine brows that she realizes there is nothing secretive to her masochism.

"Your attitude today is nowhere near your usual youthfulness, Ren!" Gai booms, and the girl sighs, sitting down on the grassy part of the training ground. I-don't-even-bother-with-number that the man frequented uses unless told otherwise. Even looking at him makes her want to just throw the training for today in the bin and go to sleep, but she knows it won't work. She feels exhausted, yes, but it's a different, very odd kind of exhaustion, far from a physical one. While, yes, it takes toll on the body, chakra exhaustion compares more to emotional, psychological exhaustion which somehow affects the body creating the feeling of physical exhaustion. Her body had recovered overnight, though, regaining strength, so in order to even fall asleep she had to do something to burn the excess energy.

It would be all better in the long run, after all.

"You know, Gai, when you protect your friends from mad men in white masks and then get a mild chakra exhaustion in process, you can't really be too happy to train." she sighs, looking at the very… expressive… man. He was wearing the muffler-scarf-thing she bought for him in Iwa nonstop, really. And when she gave it to him, there were waterworks. And yelling, Like, seriously, so much yelling.

He also apparently decided that Ren was his friend forever and ever. Because of a scarf.

Seriously.

And- Wait, is he crying? Holy fuck, he is crying.

"That is most youthful that you did that, Ren! Protecting one's comrades shows that the Will of Fire burns strong within you!" he booms even louder and Ren winces at the volume. Honestly, Gai's brand of mad is something special, but also a thing you become either resignedly used to, or get dragged in. Or something in-between. He also seems to cry even more, and Ren yelps when he falls to his knees before her. "You also have come to our training despite your weakened state! You truly are most youthful, my blooming friend, just like my eternal rival, Kakashi!"

God-fucking-damnit, there it was. The Sunset, and- Ren his her face in her hands with a sigh when the tears comically pouring from Gai's eyes prompted a three-ringed rainbow. Even the sun felt real, like what sort of genjutsu is this fucking thing?

Ren sighs, digging in her backpack, before pulling out two bento boxes that she definitely did not feel with bento, and proceeds to dig herself even further. "I made food, you want to eat it now or after the training?"

If she thought his crying was comical before, now it evolved into two bloody waterfalls and is that a rainbow glittering over Gai's head? Ren was pretty sure it wasn't a genjutsu anymore. All in all, magical ninja superhero world wasn't all that different from where she originally came from, and then there was Gai.

Worst part of it all? She was starting to genuinely like him.

Ren gives up. She is genuinely just done. She's not one to overestimate herself, though she definitely can sometimes push past her limits, but also a person who knows when to stop. Which, of course, doesn't mean she actually does stop there. But when her breathing gets too ragged after a quarter of usual running (a quarter, for crying out loud!) it's not taken very well by her, and, oddly enough, it's Gai himself who tells her to sit down and rest up. That, of course, takes Ren by surprise, because there's no bigger training freak than Gai.

"That's fucking ridiculous I can do mo-" she starts ranting, only to be cut off.

"No, you cannot. Ren, as much as I respect your power of youth and determination, you barely can stand. I will not risk your health," Gai tells her very seriously and in concern, causing her to hide her face in her hands.

"Bullshit, Gai," she sigh, but she does sound tired – hell, she feels tired. "Pure bullshit but I guess I don't have a choice other than listening to your responsible whining, eh? Hana would be proud! " Ren chuckles dryly, and while she might say so, she knows very well that even if she tried, she would not be able to stand up again. Her legs feel like jelly or fresh marshmallows, and had she tried she would have ended up on her face, breaking her nose or worse. She sighs once again, rather longsufferingly this time, and makes grabby hands for her backpack, suddenly unwilling to move at all, even scoot the short distance to get to it. Gai doesn't really seem to mind, though – bless his weird but still ultimately good soul – and goes to retrieve it.

Ren places the backpack on her lap, rummaging through it and the man lowers himself down to sit next to her – another surprise, because she expected him to go on. Well, whatever, eating together is always more fun than eating alone anyways. She gives him one of the bento boxes. They're big and square, with four (technically five) partitions. In the biggest, where usually would be rice – which, of course, isn't, because Ren's dislike for rice in its most popular and basic form is becoming legendary – are two rather thick slices of Beef Wellington, halved and halves layered on each other to fit. In the second biggest partition, diagonally from the one with meat, is a salad. It's simple, with lettuce and halved cherry tomatoes, bits of So cheese (which tasted somewhat like Cottage Cheese, which means barely at all except a bit like… Well, cheese) and various spices and a bit of oil. In third partition were potato fries Ren made in a wave of nostalgia in the barely last moment before leaving. It's also the weird partition with a tiny additional partition that looks to be in the center of the whole box, which is for sauce, and Ren of course filled it with homemade garlic-mayonnaise-yoghurt-spice sauce. Honestly, Mayo was a soothing blessing, otherwise the sauce would be too spicy.

In the last partition were sliced bananas, kiwis and strawberries for dessert, because Ren was creative like that.

Gai looked at his bento in silent wonder for a while, and then looked at Ren.

"It looks amazing, and smells even better," he says, and Ren flinches a bit, because for once his tone is absolutely normal, not the booming exuberant half-yelling he usually does, and it's… Weird. Like, really weird.

"Thanks, I cooked it," Ren says with a smile, and Gai grins.

"Then I shall gratefully eat this youthful meal!" he booms, and Ren winces at the volume, because he's sitting right next to her and she does value her hearing, but- Oh well, whatever. Back then when she was living completely alone, cooking was an impromptu hobby of hers,even if she had nobody to share her food with. Now seeing that people enjoyed her cooking, it was somewhat heartwarming.

"Bon Appetit then," she says. Gai laughs and cheerfully digs his chopsticks into the food.

"She befriended him," Kakashi whines pathetically from his perch on one of massive branches of the tree he occupies with Tenzo. They're having a break right now, which means lazy-but-alert scouting around the village for most ANBU. "Oh my God, she befriended him, it's done. He won't leave."

"You say it like you didn't know it was bound to happen," Tenzo chuckles, and Kakashi sends him a toxic glare. "But honestly, Senpai, Gai isn't that bad of a choice of a friend."

"Yesterday she was having dango with Anko," Kakashi says, rubbing his forearms. "It feels like she's collecting an army of people who stalk me one way or another!"

"Senpai, you're just being paranoid."

"No I'm not! You'll see I'm not! It's a punishment for messing up her new couch with my blood, isn't it?"

"Well, she's definitely vicious enough."

"See!"

Tenzo only sighs longsufferingly, looking at his senpai. Sometimes Kakashi can be such a drama queen, honestly. It's still better than the moping he used to prefer few years back, so Tenzo will take it without much complaining.

Somewhere around three is when she decides to make her way towards the Academy again. Those little brats classes will end in about half an hour, she thinks, trying to remember their lesson plan for today, and currently they should have throwing practice on the other side of the building. She opts to just sit on the bench before the building and wait for both them and Cobalt who scuttled away along with Awai when she went to train with Gai, when she sees him.

He's honestly quite adorable at early stages of his life, in traditional Chinese shirt, with evenly cut fringe that kind of looks like bowl-cut but also doesn't, and a long braid.

But no matter how he dresses or how he wears his hair right now, eight-year-old Lee is still every bit of Mini-Gai, from his eye shape right down to his determination. Honestly, if she didn't know that Gai was thirteen at the time Lee was born, she would suspect Lee was actually biologically his. The resemblance was uncanny, even if Lee was rounder, slimmer, more delicate in appearance. that could've been blamed on the mother. But alas, there were possibilities, probabilities, improbabilities and impossibilities. It was probable the two were related, but downright impossible for Gai to be actually his father.

(Which was actually mostly because Gai was too honorable to be able to produce an oops!baby like some shinobi tended to sometimes.)

Lee was currently in the process of beating the crap out of the training dummy, and Ren had to admit, even at this stage he was pretty strong already. It was only when he stopped that she went completely rigid, because suddenly his shoulders shook and he brought his hand to his face in a manner that, even with his back facing her, absolutely unmistakable to Ren.

And Ren, being Ren, was already walking towards him before she made conscious decision to do so.

Fuck.

"Hey, you okay kid?" she asks, and he whips his head around so fast that his braid makes a whole circle and smacks him and the face. Lee squawks a this, and brushes his hair away, and when he looks back at Ren there's a furious embarrassed blush on his cheeks.

"Yes I am, ma'am!" he answers, and Ren whines, hiding her face in her hands.

"I'm twelve, don't call me that," she huffs, and then sighs. "I'm Ren. You?"

"Rock Lee!"

"What are you doing all alone out here, Lee, mutilating these poor training dummies?" Ren asks, kneeling before the boy, as he sniffs looking down at his shoes.

"Training," he says weekly. "Because I need to get stronger, so that everybody will stop laughing at me!" he says, looking off to the side.

"And why are they laughing?"

Lee is just about to answer, but there's suddenly shuffling in the leaves and something jumps at them. Lee's eyes go wide as saucers and Ren only sighs tiredly, as Cobalt with Awai on her back lands at hand's reach away from them.

"Because they're assholes!" Cobalt promptly says, and Ren facepalms. Awai, apparently, shares her sentiments.

"So when I was off training you were stalking around the Academy, huh," Ren says it more than actually asks, and Cobalt scoffs. "Also, don't curse around brats."

"Hey pot, I'm kettle," Cobalt huffs sarcastically, and Ren is pretty sure she actually sweat-drops at it. She made a monster already, and Cobalt was only summoned yesterday. She was such an adorable, innocent angel then! She could always blame it to Cobalt's exposure to Anko, though. "Also, I heard the other brats tell him that he's a loser because he can't use chakra," Cobalt says, and Lee's shoulders visibly lower.

"Let me guess, the brat who said that had white eyes and a surname that is Hyūga, huh?" Ren asks, crooking her eyebrow, and Lee looks at her in surprise.

"How do you know that?" he asks, and then looks at Cobalt. "Also what is this gigantic spider?"

Ren chuckles," I know, because I was in class with a Hyūga, and then in a team with one. They're uppity assholes, if you ask me," she says, and ignores Cobalt's chastising clicking, before motioning at her. "The big spider is Cobalt, and she's my summons. The small spider is Awai, he's my pet."

"Oh. They're amazing!" Lee cheers. "Scary, but amazing."

"Also, it's bullshit that you can't be a ninja without good chakra control," Ren says before she can bit her tongue, gaining Lee's attention. "To be honest, I'm just back from training with a person who is in a very similar situation as you. He can't use chakra that well if at all."

"Really?" Lee asks in childish wonder. "And he became a ninja?"

"Lee," Ren says seriously, placing a hand on his shoulder. "This man not only became a ninja. He's one of most powerful ninja our village has, a renowned Jōnin who can go on par with Copy-Nin Kakashi, despite not being able to use chakra almost at all!"

She's pretty sure that there are star in Lee's eyes. He has not yet even heard man's name, let alone meet him, and already idolizes him.

She's pretty sure she created a monster, then and there.

"Who is he?" Lee asks, gripping one of her hands.

"His name is Maito Gai," she says. "And if you want I can ask him to meet you."

"Yes, please!"

Ren is walking Naruto and Sasuke home from Academy, listening to their and Cobalt's chattering, when Kakashi appears before her out of nowhere, startling both boys and a spider, placing his hands on her shoulders and falling onto his knees.

"WHY?!" he nearly shrieks, and Ren blinks. "Why do you hate me so!"

"Uh, what," Naruto asks smartly, and Sasuke only stares at the man.

"Is this about Lee?" Ren asks, bringing both her hands up to rub her temples. She can feel a headache forming.

"You have made a monster," Kakashi whines, and Ren sighs longsufferingly.

"Will you stop whining if I invite you over for dinner?" she asks, placing one of her hands on her hip, and massaging the bridge of her nose with the other. "Tenzo can come, too. Just, please, I threw some ideas into the head of a child that's a mini-Gai today, I don't need your flailing. I know I've created a monster."

"Yes, but the brat is only going to adore you!" Kakashi says accusingly. "Like every other brat you meet!"

"I was going to make some salt-broiled saury and miso with eggplant, but I feel like changing my mind right now."

There's a beat of silence.

"Have I told you I love you?" Kakashi asks sweetly, complete opposite of what he presented few seconds ago, giving her his best bullshit eye-smile, and Ren feels like kicking him in the shin.

So, she does exactly that.