The drive to Yancy was awkward to say the least. Looking over at mom, her eyes on the road, I couldn't help but feel a weird dissociation as I stared at her face. This was my mom, Sally Jackson, but at the same time another face sprung into view, overtaking her visage. Fair skinned, with long red hair and soft violet eyes. A face that jumped out and screamed the word love, Kushina Uzumaki. This was so confusing, and Naruto wasn't awake to make sense of it. Try as I might, I couldn't put one above the other, they were both mom to me now.
"Percy, I know you aren't exactly thrilled to be going to Yancy- '' at this I chuckled ruefully, and she continued without pause, "but I believe this is the best chance you've had to really take school seriously. You won't have to worry about Gabe and I, you can focus one hundred percent of yourself on your academics. I know you can do anything you put your mind to honey.", she finished while looking over at me and trying for an assuring smile.
I didn't bother to correct her about the fact that I'd be worrying regardless, I'm sure she already knew that. I mumbled some half hearted agreement and turned to face the window. Staring at the hills rolling by as we made our way to upstate New York, my focus drifted to one the moments that struck me the hardest when I bathed in the sea of memories belonging to Naruto.
I was sitting on an old swing set, legs too small to touch the ground, eyes blurred thanks to tears streaking down my adolescent face. Wiping my eyes with my wrist I thought with scorn, "All these kids hate me, their parents too! How am I supposed to become the strongest ninja in the village if I can't even hold a conversation with the teachers! Everyone thinks I'm SO stupid, but no one that talks to me can even go a second without glaring at me."
The sound of the gate cleared and a young man with long raven hair pulled back into a ponytail entered the courtyard. I'd seen him before, outside the apartment Jiji got me. He was wearing different clothes then, of course, but it would be hard to mistake someone with such an aura.
He made his way to a young boy with the same raven hair, although the tufts that topped his head were unkempt and wild. I knew him, he was the prodigy of our class, Sasuke Uchiha. The young boy looked up at the man and smiled, "Itachi-nii, you'll never guess what happened during sparring today!", he rattled off excitedly.
"Oh? Tell me all about it Otōto." The teen, now identified as Itachi, said. A small smile grew on his face as he placed his little brother on his shoulders and listened to him go on about everything we had done that day.
I remember feeling a stronger pain than I'd ever felt at that small scene. Nothing compared, the freezing, the hateful staring, the neglect.
I felt so alone.
The car pulled to a stop and I reentered the world. Yancy Academy lorded over me with all the gravity a giant 100 year old correctional school could manage. It was hard not to be intimidated. To my left, mom reached over and held my arm.
"Relax Percy, you'll do great." She spoke in a soothing tone, as all mothers did when speaking to their children. At that moment it struck me. I had spent almost 2 decades trapped living the life of Naruto Uzumaki. The lonely orphan from the village hidden in the leaves. Without a mother, father, or any family to speak of. And here I was about to leave the only family I had. The wave of emotion that washed over me was almost enough to suffocate me.
She must have noticed a change and her grip tightened before she pulled me into her warm embrace. Perhaps she thought I was anxious about the school and how I'd handle it.
"Mom?" I let out into her shoulder.
"Yes honey?" She stroked my hair.
"I'm sorry." The shame that I poured into that simple apology was immense. And she likely still assumed I was expressing regret over her having to send me away to Yancy. I'd wished it was so simple.
My thoughts were so jumbled, constantly jumping between something Naruto would think or feel and something I'd normally express. Shame for being such a nuisance growing up as Percy Jackson. Shame for failing the Elemental Nations as Naruto Uzumaki. I tried to let her know how sorry I was.
"You don't need to apologize. Know that everyday you make me proud. I could've never imagined how much I'd grow to love you Percy. And that love won't disappear ever. Do you understand?" She pulled back from the hug and searched for my eyes.
I wish I could've told her I understood, if only to make her worry less. To her, I was just a 12 year old with behavioral issues. God, I wished that were still true. She couldn't fathom the weight that had been placed on my shoulders, and how I'd cracked under the pressure.
I didn't meet her eyes as I opened the door and grabbed the bags. She rolled down the window and reiterated that she'd see me during the parent student meet up in October. I nodded once, and set off.
I'd look back on that day later on and the sorrow would amplify. How I could've sat in the car and begged her to take me back, that I'd focus on school and be the model son she could truly be proud of. Knowing her, she'd relent and allow it, she was always too soft on me.
If only I'd known how gigantic the curtain that was soon to be drawn would be.
Walking into the building was an experience. I'd never been in a building with such a defined presence, like the walls could speak stories or the floor could badmouth you behind your back. It was like Hogwarts without the magic. The halls were filled with kids all trying to find their dormmates and make their way to said dorm. Cutting through the crowds, I entered the office and signaled the lady behind the counter.
"Name?" She said without her eyes leaving the monitor.
"Percy Jackson, ma'am." I replied curtly. Without ever shifting her gaze she reached behind the counter and handed me a set of keys.
"You share a dorm with Grover Underwood." She rattled off with the same uncaring disposition.
"Ah… Thank you ma'am. If you wouldn't mind, could I ask for my schedule?" It was hard not to feel like I was pestering her with the way she was so obviously not engaged in our conversation.
"Students have their schedules in their dorms, you'll see where your classes are when you get there."
I left the safety of the office to brave the wild commotion of the hall. It was interesting, in Konoha there weren't many kids in the academy, each graduating class only had around 100 kids. There had to be at least 100 kids in just this hallway. I looked down at the map of the campus I'd taken from the office and at the dorm number on the keys and started my trek.
The student body seemed to be separated into two sections. The west section for the boys and the east section for the girls. Since the office was in the east section near the entrance I had a long walk ahead of me, a walk I could use to think.
Arriving at the room I was surprised to see the door open, personal belongings scattered on the wall outside the dorm. I walked up to the door and peeked in to see a boy who looked way too old to be in the 6th grade. He had the beginnings of a goatee and he wore a yarn woven beanie over his curly brown hair. I cleared my throat, which startled him as he turned around and dropped a few things he'd been setting up.
As I sized him up, I couldn't help but feel something off about him. Like something about him screamed nature. It reminded me of the toad sages of Mount Myōboku. I brushed it off and peeled my eyes from him, to the things he dropped, then back to him.
"Sorry about that man," I walked up and reached down to help him, "I'm Percy, I assume you're Grover?" I asked while picking up a book titled TexMex Cuisine and handed it back to him.
"Y-yeah, that's me." He nervously stuttered while reaching a hand out. I took it and that feeling of nature exploded tenfold. I almost fell back off my feet before gathering myself. Why did Naruto have to be asleep? I'm sure this would fall into the "Things you have no idea about and I, being countless years old, might know something," category. I brushed off the Irish Spring feeling and gave him my best smile.
"Nice, did you happen to see our schedules? The lady in the office told me they'd be here." I asked while looking around the room for the first time. It seemed spacious enough, two beds on either side of the room and some desks to go along with them. It seemed we both had our own closets as well. That was good, I certainly didn't think I could pull Grover's aesthetic off.
"Yeah they were on the table when I got here. It looks like we have the same classes for Pre-Algebra, English, and Latin." He handed me mine and started for the door, likely to grab something from the pile that leaned against the wall.
"Woah, that's cool. I wonder if they grouped us together in housing depending on our schedules." I questioned aloud.
"That would make sense, I heard Yancy puts together the schedule for the next school year a month before school starts. So they likely group people based on their classes and how close they are to the dorms themselves." He said while walking back in with a giant Reduce, Reuse and Recycle poster along with some thumbtacks. After he set his poster on the wall his bed sat against he turned to me and asked, "Hey, I heard for lunch they're serving enchiladas. You wanna join me?" with childlike excitement. Surely tied to the food and not the idea of my company, but I accepted anyway, I hadn't eaten breakfast on account of the life altering bombshell dropped on me that morning.
Grover seemed nice, despite the weird aura thing. Maybe this school year wouldn't turn out to be a complete disaster. I was already on track to making a friend, which put me ahead of my previous school based social careers by a mile.