a/n: it's a pretty long one. i would like to know what you guys think of this one, i kind of just skewered what i planned and just went along with writing in this one.


"Class, please welcome our new student," the teacher announced to the class as he gestured to Suki to introduce herself.

"H-hello, I'm… I'm-" she stopped herself, taking a deep breath and gulping. She could hear small snickers, but she supposed she brought that upon herself for not being able to introduce herself properly. Thankfully, the teacher came into her defense by quieting them down.

The young girl's face reddened in embarrassment, trying to introduce herself again, "I'm- I'm Suki, I hope you all will take care of me!" She bowed deeply, then straightening up with a deep sigh. There were some muttering and whispers, but it eventually died down when Suki was assigned her seat and the day's instructions began.

It wasn't already anything she didn't know (but most likely had forgotten herself), and she was already warned by her home tutor the week before. Still, she gave some attention to remind herself of the details she had probably missed herself when she was learning the course, though it was increasingly getting hard once she realized how… monotone her new instructor was.

Suki's eyes roamed around the classroom, still only half-listening. Among her new peers was a dark-haired boy who was sleeping, next to him was another who was trying to "silently" eat in class. Behind them was a girl with dark hair and eyes, struggling to concentrate on the lecture because of the chewing of the boy in front of her. Another from a couple seats away was a horribly yellow-haired… boy (?) who was in rapt attention. Next to him was another blond who had a more pleasing-looking hair color, eyes so empty out of boredom that Suki was sure he wasn't even in the same reality as them anymore.

That was, until those empty eyes met hers.

She flinched and quickly looked away, her lips thinning and her breathing deepening. A burning sensation in her chest indicated panic, fearing for social exile for her rudeness for sure. Suki could feel her toes curling in embarrassment at being caught.

Staring was rude, that was what she was taught. Now she would have to apologize to remedy her impoliteness, it would set her with a bad impression, and even more so she was caught. A shinobi would have more stealth than that, her instructors would have punished her even more for that.


Lunch was the hardest part of the day, when everyone immediately scrambled to hang out with their friends, Suki was noticeably alone when the class had taken a break, with no one curious or friendly enough to approach her for now. The status quo of the class was already set, sudden outliers like her would have a hard time trying to find her individual place. It was more likely that overtime she would find some way to integrate herself with a friend or two, but it was also possible that Suki would stick as a loner, which was a thought that she'd rather not play with, as it was something that gave her anxiety just thinking about. It would be weird and she didn't want to be that girl already, but she would give herself a few days to adjust.

There was also the fact that she hadn't thought of bothering people and personally introducing herself as a strategy. No, the elders always told her to let others extend their hand of friendship first, it would only be polite to do so, as to not bother other people. But it hasn't really occurred to her yet that making friends was a two-way street, if they weren't coming to her, she should be coming to them. At least she understood that friends weren't going to hand itself over to her on a silver platter. It was just a matter of gaining a backbone and getting over her shyness, as well as not letting the elders dictate her decisions.

After remembering the incident during class, Suki's eyes scanned for one of the blond to quickly apologize, finding him with the person he sat next to. Walking over towards them, Suki bowed immediately, "I— I am deeply s-sorry for staring earlier... I was simply very curious about… about my new surroundings, t– that is all," she softly stuttered, catching both students in surprise. Straightening up, both of her cheeks were tinted pink at being unable to stop her stuttering problem.

With Suki quickly turning around and walking away, both students looked at each other and shrugged, a little bit weirded out, but nonetheless mostly unaffected.

For the rest of lunch that day, Suki ate alone.


In Suki's opinion, making them spar right after lunch was a stupid idea. It made her stomach feel queasy and it was bad for digestion, but that was public academy for her, she supposed.

They were randomly paired off with a partner to duel, and Suki was partnered with the beautiful girl from earlier who had dark eyes and long dark hair.

Mikoto was her name.

She seemed kind with the way she smiled at Suki softly, putting out her pointer and middle finger out for Suki to link with. It was very misleading right after Suki joined fingers with hers, bowing, and starting their spar.

Mikoto was fierce, immediately lunging at her from the moment she straightened up from her bow, Suki barely dodging. The dark-haired girl was aggressive, not sparing Suki much time to dodge. But fortunately, the Senju was agile, though she knew she needed to take the offense soon.

After Mikoto landing a painful kick on her side, Suki landed on the ground with a couple of turns, flipping backwards to dodge a blow from her again. This left a window for Suki to quickly rush forward towards her, her fist moving backwards and giving her a good punch on the abdomen, sending the other girl flying.

Suki panted a little bit before rushing to where Mikoto was, ready to strike again. And when she tried to land a kick, Mikoto had turned, dodging and quickly making a counter, quickly getting up and snatching Suki's arm. With her arm, Mikoto maneuvered her over her back, flipping the Senju girl easily.

Grunting, it seemed like a win for the dark-haired girl, until that is Suki pulled at Mikoto's arm. It caught her off guard and a yelp came out of her lips as it was her turn to have been flipped over, with Suki on top, her knees trapping the other girl's legs, ready to strike with her first.

Both girls were breathing rapidly as the excited whispers of their other classmates were now noticeable for both of them. The match was over as soon as they both smiled at each other.

"Very good job, girls," their instructor praised with a clap of his hands. Suki lifted herself off Mikoto so she could stand up, both girls chuckling and putting forward their two fingers once more and bowing.

Once Mikoto straightened up, she looked over at Suki, "That was amazing, Suki-san, it's been a while since I was put in the ringer like that," she complimented.

Suki was taken aback at the compliment, "R-really? You're really amazing, Mikoto-san, you must...must absolutely have to teach me how you flipped me over... like that," Suki returned shyly, both of them walking back to join the crowd.

"Only if you tell me how you're that fast," Mikoto grinned at her.

The girl nodded vigorously, rather hopeful at their exchange. Maybe it wouldn't be that hard to make friends after all. Mikoto, from what she deduced at lunch, was a rather popular girl that held the affections of some of the males in her class, she could see why with that pretty smile.

The next pair to duel was the spiky-haired blonde and another boy wearing tinted shades, bugs crawling out of his skin. It sent shivers on Suki's spine, though she supposed he was an Aburame, if she remembered correctly from her clan studies.

Even more whispers were passed around, now that she was able to listen on the snippets she's heard, it would be a quick battle. The blonde, Minato, was apparently the top student of their class. Admittedly, Suki doubted it at first, until the spar began.

Moves were met fist by fist, both struggling to take over the offense. Minato was flexible and agile, but the Aburame definitely put up a good catch up and defense. It all ended with Minato giving the other boy a swift knee on the chin, throwing him back. When the other boy didn't get up after a few seconds, their instructor gave the blonde the win. Minato helped Shibi up, placing his two fingers after with his, bowing down and thanking him for the spar.

"Isn't he so good?" Mikoto turned to Suki, who merely nodded. Suki was impressed, the boy put up a pretty quick fight against the Aburame kid, and seeing them meet fist each other's blows was pretty exciting, it made her itch to spar against him herself.

The next few spars were uneventful, save for the Akimichi flattening some other kid with his size. They headed back inside once they were all done sparring for one last lecture block for the day, everyone quite tired from sparring and watching the others spar.


Suki walked to the gate to exit the academy, looking at either directions to see if the retainer had followed her orders. When she had first been escorted earlier that morning, she saw most of the children walking to the academy unsupervised by their parents, of course she became embarrassed, asking her retainer if they could simply drop or pick her up around the corner where no one would see. There was no problem in secretly guarding her (under the approval of the principal of the academy of course) when she was at the academy if anything were to happen to her, but the simple picking up and dropping off right in front of the other students was another thing, an embarrassing thing. It would have been fine if she were younger and it was the actual first day, but she was the new student. She didn't need to make a fool out of herself more than she knew she would already would.

"Suki-san, are you waiting for someone?" a voice came up behind her.

Flinching, Suki turned around to see Minato and the Akimichi boy with a bunch of other kids behind them with smiles on their faces. She shook her head at them, making the kids smile wider.

"Come with us to the playground," Chouza said while chewing on some chips. Minato and the others nodded, agreeing with him.

A little taken aback at the rather nice offer, she frowned and shook her head, "I have… I have something I need to d-do with my family," she said, thinking about the extra lessons awaiting for her at home, sighing inwardly at the thought.

The kids looked at each other with frowns forming at their faces, "is it really that important?" a girl asked while the others nodded with the same question.

"Yes," was Suki's firm reply.

"Well that's no fun, Suki-san. How about next time though, tomorrow?" Minato asked, tilting his head slightly at her.

Biting the inside of her cheek, she looked at her left to see a shadowy figure at the corner waiting for her. "I'll… I'll try to ask," she softly said.

"We'll hold you to it!" Chouza said enthusiastically. "Come on guys, let's go!" And with that, the kids ran off to the other direction while Suki headed for the other.

"Thank you for not picking me up in the front," Suki thanked the ANBU retainer who only gave a nod of acknowledgement as they started to make their way back to the Senju estate.


After some more lessons and training at the Senju residence, Suki had eaten dinner alone at her room before taking a bath, remembering that she needed to ask for permission with one of the elders to see if she could participate in social activities after school, that is, if any of the elders were around.

The Senju estate's only real inhabitants was the main branch of the clan, which were only Suki and her grandmother, with the only exception being that of the servants. The guards however rotated day and night, so even then, they weren't residents either. The elders lived in different estates since they were of a different branch, coming in to the main estate to do clan business with the head of the clan, which was currently her grandmother, and to deal with making sure Suki was taken care of properly.

Suki looked for a servant, asking if any of the elders were still around. Lucky for her, one was still around, though she would have to wait since they were currently talking to her grandmother in her personal office.

She decided to wait for them, walking the long distance away from her room from one side of the wing, to the other. She arrived just as the elder slid the door open, surprised to see the young girl waiting outside.

"Princess," the elder bowed slightly after closing the door. Suki returned the gesture before clearing her throat, looking down nervously after.

"Is it possible if I may… skip my private studies tomorrow? I've been asked by my classmates if I wanted to join them in the playground. I was hoping…" she drifted off, unable to look at the elder in the eye after making such a request.

The elder didn't even seem to ponder about the question before giving their answer, "Definitely not, your studies must take priority over leisures with the other children," the elder strictly said.

"But-"

"No. We will have to pay your retainer overtime, and you will have to catch up with your studies an extra day for a day of play, which will offer no benefit. Remember, we only put you in the Academy simply because Princess Tsunade insisted and your Lady Grandmother agreed, this does not necessarily mean that we fully agree to let you spend more time after with the other children to socialize," they firmly explained.

Suki sighed, not fighting it simply because she was conditioned fo the longest time to simply not go out of line. "O-of course, I apologize for asking," Suki replied, bowing and making her way back to her room.


The girl sat on the edge of the porch outside her room, sulking. She heard a knock and the sliding of her door, and when Suki turned around, she saw her grandmother holding a plate of Daifuku and making her way over outside to the porch. The young girl stood up and quickly greeted her with a bow, only met with a dull response of her grandmother sitting down next to the spot where she had been sulking. Sitting back down next to her Lady Grandmother, Suki became stiff again.

"If I may ask, why are you here, Lady Grandmother?" Suki asked with raised brows, proud of not stuttering. She had never personally come to her chambers before, and the gesture now just made her more surprised and uncomfortable. It made her feel like she did something wrong.

"It occured to me that it was your first day at the academy today," her grandmother said, placing the desert plate down at the gap next to them.

The princess nodded, "Yes, Lady Grandmother."

"And you had gotten an invitation to play?" Mito inquired.

"Oh… so you've heard," Suki frowned.

"The walls are unfortunately paper thin," Mito amusedly mentioned, grabbing a Daifuku off the plate and took a bite.

Suki mimicked her grandmother's actions, though not taking a bite out of hers yet, "I-I suppose they are… I shouldn't have asked when I knew there were more- more important things to do…"

"I give you permission."

"W-what?" Suki was taken aback, after being told otherwise by the elder, she didn't think her grandmother would allow her either.

Mito smiled down at her granddaughter, "If we're going to get that stutter out of you, we'll have to get you used to talking to other people," she explained.

Suki blushed, of course... She knew her stuttering was annoying, especially to other people, but if she barely spoke to anyone other than her tutors, it would be hard not to get shy around others. She was in desperate need of socializing, especially to kids her own age.

Taking a bite out of her snack, she nodded, "yes, Lady Grandmother," Suki replied, now a little excited at the prospect of playing with other children. She then wondered how the elders would react, though since it was her grandmother allowing her, there was nothing they could really do about it, her words were basically law.

Silence fell on them as they ate their desserts, watching the night scenery contently until Suki felt a hand running through her short hair.

"Your hair is just like Tobirama's, so is your eye color. However… the shape," Mito examined her stiff granddaughter, "They're shaped like mine," she said, moving her hand from Suki's hair to her now burning cheeks.

As far as Suki knew, her father was the second son of Hashirama and Mito, and her mother was Tobirama's only child. In order to keep the main branch pure and to cultivate powerful offspring, they were matched, though rather hesitantly due to their close relations. However, the older elders and Tobirama pushed for the arrangement, and so a match was made. Unfortunately, Suki was very far from the powerful offspring that was desired that just simply proved that even time-old traditions as such were for a good reason, near obsolete.

Her father died in a mission before Suki was born, and her mother died in childbirth. It was no secret that she was cursing her daughter until the moment she died, never naming her, and it was still a reoccuring gossip by the older maids. However, she had an older brother that came way before her, giving her the name Suki, which was a very unusual name to give, though he was known for his eccentries. He died as well, though she didn't know why, and nobody openly talked about him for some reason. Suki would ask, but she would get no response.

"Thank...you?" Suki furrowed her brows at her grandmother's observation.

"Hashirama would have enjoyed spoiling you, with cheeks like those and a stutter, he was rather weak when it came to children," she recalled, looking up in thought as she continued, "would have given his grandchildren the world if he could, but he would firmly teach you to take care of it."

Suki was no stranger to hearing about the great Hashirama Senju. If other children heard many stories about the Shodaime Hokage, she had it worse living in his estate, being his granddaughter. Sure it was kind of cool being the granddaughter of the God of Shinobi, but it was also rather unfortunate having to live up to that. Not to mention, never having met the man personally, she didn't have any emotional ties to him, he wasn't someone necessarily meaningful to her.

"I… I would be privileged to have met Lord H-Hashirama," Suki murmured shyly, finishing the last of the deserts. She didn't exactly know what to say, it indeed would be a privilege but wouldn't that just make her life that much harder? She'd be more of a mess than she was now with her grandmother.

The older woman gave her a light nod, "It's a shame he's only met Tsunade and your brother, though even just for a little bit…"

At the mention of her brother, Suki's brows were raised in interest. Mentions of her brother were rare, and she soaked up all the information she could get about him, which wasn't much. Curiously, she leaned in slightly more next to her grandmother.

Mito didn't miss this gesture of hers, even if her granddaughter tried to hide it. She was sure that the young girl didn't even notice she was doing it, body language was a clear indicator of her interest if her expression wasn't already enough.

"What do you want to know?" Mito asked her, amused at the surprised face that quickly took over her granddaughter's face, then the embarrassment that made her quickly sulk a bit.

"I'm s-sorry, was I-I that obvious?" Suki looked down, leaning away.

Perhaps she didn't manifest the power Hashirama had, but to Mito, it was clear that Suki was just as emotionally fragile as him.

Mito raised her hand up to indicate that it was fine, but the girl quickly flinched away at this gesture.

A deep frown came across Mito's face as she slowly put her hand back down. "Maybe it's best if we were to retire already…" she told her granddaughter as she shakily stood up. Age has truly gotten the best of her, but she still had a strong will to live… She just wasn't sure if that was enough to keep the fox at bay.

Bowing down, Suki quickly said her farewells, picking up the plate and watching her grandmother get back inside and exit out of the room. She let out a large sigh before entering her room as well, placing the plate at a nearby table.

At least tomorrow she could play with her new classmates.