"Wow," Naruto breathed, for once quiet with wonder as we gazed upon our new home-away-from-home for the next six years.
"Wow," I agreed, feeling less than impressed at the tall, red-roofed building that was giving me a crick in the neck.
The Ninja Academy. The source of Konoha's military force. A building filled with a hundred titchy menaces called children armed with sticks, stones, and the power to grind both into dust. The place where it all began.
Or will begin.
I swallowed, feeling a sudden, invisible weight descending on my shoulders. I moved automatically with the crowd, our future schoolmates moving ahead and stuttering into motion behind us. I could hear a few getting last-minute freak outs and clingy episodes with their parents further back.
This was it. We're headed for the Academy, the Plot was going to start rolling, I'd been in this world for six years and I had no idea what I'm going to do.
Maybe I should just run away, I thought, feeling mildly hysterical. Or jump off a cliff and hope this dream will end.
A hand slipped between my fingers. "Minako?" I looked to my side to see big blue eyes staring at me in puzzlement.
No. Even if this was a dream, there was no way I could leave Naruto. Figuratively or literally. I squeezed his hand and gave him a smile. "Sorry. Come on, I know you're excited." I tugged him forward. He dug his feet in and pouted mulishly.
"You're not." He pointed out. Oh god. He's going to grow up into either a Captain Obvious or a smartass. I wasn't sure which one I liked better.
"I'm just nervous, that's all." I lied, shrugging a few stray strands of red hair off my shoulders. Naruto's eyes were still narrowed in suspicion, but at least he went along. I glanced over my shoulder at the rest of the orphan children entering ninja school this year. I hadn't seen them in a while, but I did recognize a few. Most of them were still reluctant to leave Minoru-san's side—even the impatient-looking ones stayed fidgeting near the edge of the group.
I turned away from them. "Let's just get this over with, yeah?" I started walking backwards, pulling Naruto along. His reluctance was obvious, but at least he was moving. I beamed, trying to make up for killing his mood. It's the first day of the ninja equivalent of grade school; he should have some good memories of that at the very least. "Who knows, we might even get to make new friends today!"
Naruto's face brightened at that. "Yeah!" He broke into a run, tugging me along behind him. I couldn't help the small giggle that burst forth. My good mood lasted until a pair of mothers caught my eye and immediately began to whisper amongst themselves with horrified looks. My smile fell.
I took one look at Naruto's bright, hopeful eyes and sighed. I could only hope that the teachers here wouldn't treat him as badly as the civilians did. The glares from the times we dared to venture outside of our home were bad enough. Now we had teachers, who could easily sabotage our education and ensure we ended up dead in a ditch in the future. I didn't want Naruto's hopes to be crushed on making a new friend either. Children could be cruel, especially if they were raised to be that way.
I let myself be led away, lost in my own thoughts.
Two minutes into class I was struggling not to panic. I was in the Academy, on my first day of class, and I was going to learn how to murder people or die, while juggling the fate of the world and trying not to fuck shit up by doing something as simple as tripping over Sasuke and later end up giving him an insecurity complex over his agility. It would sound hilarious in hindsight, but it didn't sound very funny to me then, as I hyperventilated at the classroom door.
Where was Naruto? Naruto was always the one who helped me knock myself out of things like this, sometimes before they even started. Just a sunny smile, and I could convince myself that everything was going to be alright, and I was going to make sure of it, dammit. Why did he have to be assigned into a different class?
Small steps, I told myself, gasping. Small steps. Just get through the first day of school. Don't think about killing people, or changing the future, or anything. Just step through that door, and finish the first day of school.
I shuffled a foot forward. It moved an inch. I whimpered.
"Hey! Move it!" Something bumped into me hard, throwing me into the room and to the side. I collapsed on the ground and wheezed, doing my best not to kiss dirt and breathe air at the same time. "Slowpoke. What, you gonna cry for your mommy now, Carrot Head?"
Carrot Head? Really? At least it's not something like Tomato Face, was what I would have liked to say, except I was too busy trying to catch my breath. At least whoever the brat was knocked me out of my panic attack.
I settled for glaring at him instead. I caught a flash of spiky dark hair and brown eyes (hmph, side character) before he yelped and ducked behind the girl beside him. The girl in turn shrieked, brown pigtails bouncing as she pointed at me and cried out.
"What's with your face?"
My hand slapped over said face before I could even think, as if fingers over one eye would hide the black markings snaking around both. Already I could see children craning their necks behind the main group in front, trying to see what all the fuss was about. At least four kids had a direct view in front of me, making me squirm.
"They're clan markings," I blurted out. Oh god, me and my stupid mouth. I swear I wasn't this impulsive before I was reborn. Apparently being a loudmouth is inheritable.
"No way. No clan has markings like that." Another girl piped up from beside Pigtails. She had pale green hair and light blue eyes. I squinted. Whether she was from a clan or a civilian was up in the air. Stupid Naruto world aesthetics.
"She's lying! I've seen her around the orphanage!" yelled a very helpful voice from the back. "You don't have a clan if you're from the orphanage!"
"That's because they're all dead! Duh." I rolled my eyes. The kids sucked in a collective gasp at my retort.
"Really?" Cabbage Head's bottom lip wobbled. Her eyes were wide at the thought.
"So what's your clan?" Spiky asked suspiciously.
"Can't you tell? I'm from the Uzumaki clan!" I waved my arms around, trying to buy time to think. Fast.
I knew jack shit about the Uzumaki clan. I was supposed to know jack shit about the Uzumaki clan. If anyone overheard and decided I knew more than I should, I would be dead dead dead meat!
"I've never heard of your clan," said Spiky with all the disdain of a six-year-old. Panic morphed to anger and indignation at the willing volunteer for an outlet for my anxiety. What right did any brat have to look down on me?
"We are so totally a clan!" I exploded, leaping to my feet. I could feel my face flaring with my fury, turning me as red as the hair that got me labeled Carrot Head. "Everyone got killed and we had to run away so now they're pretending we don't exist so we're safe but one day they're gonna come back and they're gonna make me a princess so there!" I ended my rant with a gasp for breath, a stomp of my feet... And promptly burst into tears.
Shame and horror at my rant only made my wails turn louder. Freaking kid hormones! Behavior! Mindset! Whatever! I was a fully-grown adult at a mental age of twenty three, and this was the worst time to turn out to be a crybaby!
"Hey guys, what's the hold up?" A dark red head appeared above all the little kiddie heads by the floor. He took one look at me and frowned. "Hey, now, don't cry! Bullying already, kids? Come on, at least wait for after the first day of school!"
Metal glinted on his forehead. My eyes widened. Shit, the teacher!
"She said her weird face is coz of clan markings. But everybody knows orphanage kids don't have a clan." Spiky pointed at me, the skepticism clear in his voice.
"She said her clan was all dead, that's why she's in the orphanage!" Cabbage Head argued in my defense. Which was… wow, okay, thanks, really nice of her, but not when she just brought up my load of fish droppings made of lies!
Sensei tilted his head, studying me closely. I bit my lip and glared at him head on, bracing myself for the inevitable denial. It was the perfect opportunity to bring one of the Demon Twins down another peg, of course he would. Well, who cares? At least I knew that I was telling the truth! Even if I wasn't supposed to know the truth…
Snot threatened to drip down my nose. I sniffed, hard, and wiped my eyes, before returning to my heated glaring.
Sensei shrugged, an easy roll of green-covered shoulders. "Who knows? It could be true. There are a lot of clans out there that even I don't know of." He wove his way through the crowd of little monsters and into the room. "Now, are you all coming in or am I gonna have to call the Hokage and say you all don't wanna be a ninja anymore?"
"Nooooooo!" Dozens of voices shrieked, and then everyone was rushing to make their way into the room. I was left gaping after the teacher on the floor.
"Well?" He blinked, and started rubbing his ear. "Are you gonna stay there all day, clan kid?" He smiled at me.
He smiled. At me.
"N-no!" I stammered, feeling my face burn to my ears. I turned and bolted for the nearest empty chair I could find. I could still feel him smiling at me as I sat, before he turned to the board and started writing his name.
I covered my face with my hands and stared at my table. In the background I could hear Hiro-sensei introducing himself. I was too busy to wrap my mind around the fact that an adult had just been nice to me.
Adults being nice? To me and Naruto? Didn't happen. It was nice to dream about actual friends from within the closed walls of the orphanage, but reality was a lot more disappointing. Few were outright mean like Miyagawa-san, but everyone had their own ways of dealing with us. Some went the way of Minoru-san and acted like terrified mice the moment we popped up. Some just glared at us and avoided us completely. But no one was ever nice.
I peeked up at Hiro-sensei in time to catch him in a wide grin. Heat flared through my cheeks again. I buried my face in my arms.
Maybe... Maybe school wouldn't be so bad after all.
The moment we were let out of class for lunch I bolted into the Academy outdoor area to find Naruto. The backyard was as big as two classrooms with a flower field on the side and enough trees surrounding it to sate a monkey. The open space continued beyond my line of sight, circling the Academy building. I could see a hint of cleared earth that had a few of the older kids sparring in the distance. I looked around, trying to find a familiar mop of blond hair—which was harder than I thought it would be, since blond apparently wasn't as rare as the anime made it seem to be.
I gave up and decided to wait for Naruto to find me instead. My hair definitely stood out a lot better.
I headed for the flower field because it was on a hill and thus would make me easier to see. Not to mention all those colors would clash with my hair. Only a couple of kids were playing here, which made it even better to avoid any leftover curious children from the fiasco this morning. Looked like everyone else preferred the open space of the lawn to play.
I looked at the two kids in the field and thought of the teacher who has smiled at me this morning. I thought of Miyagawa-san, Minoru-san, the orphanage kids... Then I thought of Hiro-sensei, who looked at me and gave me a smile.
I took a deep breath, and walked towards the field.
I eased my way between the flowers, wary of crushing one or getting pricked by another. The girl I was trying to approach looked up at the noise. I stared. She stared back.
Misty gray eyes, and a disturbing lack of pupils. Oh.
"Hi," I squeaked, and immediately regretted it when she flinched. "Sorry!"
"N-no, it's... um..." She bowed her head and fiddled with the flowers in her hand. Her flush was stark against her pale skin. I blinked. Was it hereditary or had she just never seen the light of day?
Hopefully not the latter.
I smiled, trying to make her more comfortable. "Let's try that again. Hi!" I waved at her. "I'm Uzumaki Minako."
"U-um..." That stutter was going to make me stutter, seriously. "W-we're in the s-s-same c-class..."
"Uh... Oops?" This was going just peachy. Social norms, what social norms? I was a teenager, old lady, whatever, reincarnated in a kiddy body shunned by society. What did I know of social norms? "Sorry, uh, guess I wasn't paying attention. What's your name?"
"H-hyuuga. Hinata." She said it like she was spitting the words out before she choked on them. I spared her a moment of sympathy. Then my mind caught up with her words. I did a double take.
Misty gray eyes, and a disturbing lack of pupils. Oh.
Black hair and full bangs. Oh.
"Oh." I repeated out loud, looking at her with wonder. Oh my god, chibi-Hinata was adorable. All pink chubby cheeks and big round eyes. Ohh.
Hinata's face fell. She returned her gaze to her flowers, turning them over and over in her hands.
"Wait, why do you look sad?" I yelped, and flailed a bit, wanting to touch her but not sure if I could. "Don't be sad, uh, I don't know what I did, I'm sorry!"
She made a tiny little "eep!" and jerked back, clutching the flowers to her chest. I squeaked and yanked my hands back, trying not to scare her. We stared at each other, blue eyes at empty gray.
Slowly, so she didn't startle, I raised my hands in the universal sign of harmless. "Please don't be scared. I'm not scary, promise." I wracked my brains on a way to gain her trust. What would a kid do? What would Naruto do?
...well.
"Want to be friends?" Hinata jumped, before staring at me like I had just pulled a cupcake out of thin air and was now offering her a bite. It was disturbingly similar to the face Naruto would make whenever one of the orphanage kids spoke to him first.
"F-friends...?" she asked, in the softest voice I'd heard from her yet.
I made my decision.
"Yep! Friends!" I declared, flopping onto the flowers beside her. Crunch, went about half a dozen. Oops.
She jumped, but it wasn't as bad as before. She stared at me from under her bangs. I watched in avid fascination as her lips slowly stretched into a tiny smile.
She had a dimple on one cheek. Oh no.
"I'd… I'd like that," she whispered, poking her fingers together. She looked at me with a tiny, tentative smile on her cute face, and surrounded by flowers of different kinds.
Uzumaki Minako. Dead by cuteness.
"So! Hinata-chan." She jumped again—gonna have to fix that sooner or later—but if the widening smile on her face was any indication, it was more out of surprise than fear. I beamed back. "Whatcha doing?"
"Oh. Um." She looked at the flowers in her hands. "I'm c-collecting f-flowers."
"Really? That's so cool!" I clapped in enthusiasm. My wide grin was starting to hurt my cheeks, but in the name of childhood friends and trust it had to be done. Hopefully I didn't look as demented as I felt. "So you can tell which ones are those?"
"Y-yes." She ducked her head. "Okaa-sama t-taught m-me."
"Really? She sounds like a great mom!" Wait, did I say "really" twice?
"Yes." Her shoulders rose to cover her ears. "Sh-she was."
I opened my mouth and closed it a couple of times, trying to think of what to say to that. Awwwkwaaard. I wracked my mind for something else to say before the silence settled and we would be left staring at the flowers and wishing desperately for the bell to ring and lunch to end. "I don't know my mom," I offered. "Never met her." This mom, at least. I felt a pang at the thought of my old one, and hurriedly pushed it away. I'd done my wallowing. Mom was gone, and so was the rest of my old family and my old life. Gone. Dead. Kapoof. End of story.
Naruto was my life now.
"I-I'm s-sorry…" Hinata mumbled, looking just as dismayed as I felt bringing her mom up. I flailed again, trying to wipe the look off her face and get her shy smile back. Dear god, spare me from teary-eyed babies that look like the incarnation of marshmallows and fluffy bunnies.
"It's not that bad!" I said hastily. "I've got a brother. We take care of each other! That's as good as having a mom, I think."
Hinata perked up at the mention of a sibling. Thank god. "I h-have a l-little s-sister t-too," she said. "Her n-name is H-Hanabi-chan."
"That's great!" I said, much more sincerely this time. I smiled at the thought of a mini-chibi-Hinata (oh god, this wasn't going to turn into Sailor Moon, was it), except with narrower eyes, because I kind of remembered something about a stone-faced Hyuuga brat. "Siblings are the best."
"Y-y-yes. Th-they are." Hinata smiled at her fingers, her widest yet.
I tilted my head to the side, studying her pink cheeks and the eyes hidden by her bangs. "You know, Hinata-chan? You should smile more. It's really cute."
"E-eehh?!" Her squeak broke off into a wheeze. Red rose up her cheeks until it flooded her whole face. She swayed in her seat.
I felt the blood rush from my face as I hurried to catch her. "Wait, wait, don't faint! Don't faint!"
In the end I didn't get to meet Naruto during break time. I would have spent the hour worrying, but thankfully trying to hold a conversation with Hinata was enough to keep me occupied. I managed to keep her smiling all the way to the classroom, and we even managed to sit together the rest of the day. That was accomplishment enough for me.
That was probably the first time I didn't freak about Naruto when I couldn't find him in sight.
"So how are you getting home?" I asked Hinata, hanging back from the masses of children rushing for the door. "Maybe we can walk home together?"
"U-um... H-Hikane-s-san is p-picking me up." She pointed at a young man standing stiffly in the distance, his face as blank as a sheet of paper. I was surprised to see that his forehead was bare. My assumption about the Main house had been that it only involved Hinata's immediate family, considering that her uncle had been branded and booted to the Branch house. Guess I was wrong.
"Aww." I pouted at Hinata, then grinned, letting her know I was kidding. She smiled hesitantly back. "Maybe next time, then?"
"Y-yeah!" She beamed, a small flash of pure happiness, and my face responded in kind. It was getting easier to smile back at Hinata now. The poor thing was like a little sunflower starving without sun. Just smile at her a little and she bloomed into wondering joy.
Kind of like Naruto, really. Maybe that was why it was easier for me to hang around her than with the other kids. She was much easier to please.
"See you tomorrow!" I waved cheerfully as she pulled away towards her fetcher.
"S-see you!" She waved back, her smile not fading even as she walked away.
My eyes met her fetcher's over her head. The Hyuuga's eyes narrowed slightly, but it was enough for me to feel his disapproval even from this far away. My smile faltered.
"Min'ko, Min'ko! Where've you been? I've been looking all over, dattebayo!" A huge weight crashed into my back, literally knocking me out of my train of thought. Only copious amounts of flailing and yelping managed to save me from falling flat on my face. It didn't knock Naruto's enthusiasm down a peg, however. (Unfortunately.) "Look, Min'ko, look! I found a friend!"
"It's Minako!" I said automatically, glancing back to where I last saw Hinata. Gone. I bit my lip, feeling my heart constrict with dread.
Then my mind caught up with what Naruto was saying. "Wait, what?" I whirled around, my growing hair smacking Naruto in the face. He squawked. I ignored him, gaping at the kid beside him.
My first impression of Uchiha Sasuke was hair. It wasn't the duck-butt hairdo he'd been famous for in my old life. It looked soft, and fluffy, like chick down, and stuck out every which way. His eyes were big and round, and his cheeks just as chubby as Hinata's.
In short, he was fucking adorable.
"I never said anything about being friends!" He crossed his arms and glared, trying for an angry expression but only coming across as a pout. I may or may not have wheezed like a dying balloon.
"We punched each other! Now we gotta be friends, dattebayo! It's the rules!" Naruto insisted. "My sister said so!" I slapped my hands over my face in lieu of more dying noises. I really, really needed to watch what I told Naruto. Gratitious pop culture references out of sheer loneliness and insanity did not justify corrupting a little kid's mind beyond repair. I knew children were impressionable, but sheesh.
"It was a joke," I said weakly. Of course, according to all rules of Fictional Male Rival Bickery, I was ignored.
"Your sister is weird," Sasuke retorted. That only incensed Naruto.
"Hey! Don't talk about my sister like that, -ttebayo!"
"I am right here," I said louder, raising my eyes to the sky. Was this fate? Or was Canon mocking me? Naruto and Sasuke, meeting on the first day of school? Next thing you know, I was going to turn around and bump into Itachi.
Despite his obvious irritation, however, Sasuke didn't look truly angry. More of bewildered and annoyed. And no matter how loud Naruto yelled on my behalf, I had never seen him look so… happy. This was probably the longest conversation he'd ever had with someone without them walking away. It didn't matter if it was more of a fight than a conversation, really. He was talking to someone, and they were talking back.
There's a lump in my throat. I couldn't say a thing.
"Sasuke? Sasuke," a woman called, her voice breaking through the bickering faster than a kunai through cheese. Sasuke's face brightened, abandoning his conversation without a second thought.
"Okaa-sama!" he cheered, whirling around. I saw Naruto's face break into an expression of dismay, though he quickly hid it with a pout. I jumped, my hand jerking out to grab Naruto—why? To yank him away? To hide him? As if shielding him would preserve the happiness I saw on his face mere moments ago?
It was too late, anyway. The woman—Sasuke's mother—smiled at seeing her son. Then she saw us.
Her face paled. Her eyes widened. Her lips thinned.
She looked like she'd seen a ghost.
This time, I really did grab Naruto. "Come on, Naruto," I snapped, feeling my cheeks flare up. "We're going home."
It was that feeling again. That sinking sensation in my stomach, with the rush of air from my lungs like being punched from the gut; familiar, so, saddeningly familiar. Four years of growing awareness to the clear cognition I had now, and the one emotion I knew like the back of my hand was this.
Hurt.
I didn't want to stay long enough to see how else that woman would react to us. I whirled around and started dragging Naruto away.
"But—" He glanced over his shoulder. It said a lot about how he felt at that moment that he didn't even try to resist. And that hurt even worse. I was an adult, even if it was just in my head. I could handle people glaring me down, no problem. I'd heal. But Naruto was just a kid. And no matter what anyone said, he didn't deserve anything like this. The thought that hurt was as familiar to him now as it was to me…
I resisted the urge to strangle anything that would make his smile falter.
"Wait—!" I heard Sasuke call, but we were already shoving our way through the quickly-parting crowd. The rest of his sentence was lost to the murmurs and hisses of the adults come to pick up their children.
A/N:
edited: 01/14/2020
Of course my motivation to write hits that crucial week before finals. Of fucking course.
There was supposed to be a chapter before this that I was having difficulty writing, but then I realized that I could just move that chapter somewhere else, so I worked on finishing this already-half-written chapter. Also, recently I've been itching with ideas on a non-canon crossover with Dreaming of Sunshine (since Silver Queen is being so nice about recursive fanfiction), except I can't do that because it would happen in the far future of RWTBD, which means spoilers. If only "itching with ideas" didn't literally mean itching. I need that mental processing space for my majors, you know! D:
Check out my tumblr at fleeting-white-feathers!
Ps. Tell me if Minako's getting too wangsty. I need to know. :P
