Thank you to all my reviewers! I wasn't going to update until finals were over, but you guys have convinced me to put off my studying for a bit.
'thinking'
"speaking"
flashback
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Chapter 2
Zumi sat in her usual seat in the classroom. It wasn't in the front, nor was it in the back. She sat in the middle row by the window. She had learned that not drawing attention to herself was usually the safest way to go.
Iruka walked in and stood. He observed the class for the moment, and sighed. His eyes were sad as his usual bright grin was replaced by an expression close to that of a kid who had to give away his puppy.
"Well, class, if you pass the graduation exam, this will be your last time in this classroom.
Now Iruka looked ready to cry.
"You'll leave me! You'll go out into the world and become a shinobi! And I won't be able to teach you anymore! You'll have a new sensei! And you could," he gasped and started to sob. "You could die!!"
Zumi rolled her eyes. Iruka could be sort of overprotective sometimes. She surprised herself by realizing that, when she passed, this classroom, with the quiet swish of brushes and Iruka-sensei always hovering, always worrying, would be one of the things she would miss most.
When she had zoned back in, they were lining up to take the exam. Zumi positioned herself in the middle again. As Iruka called them up, she leaned against the wall to study her classmates' performances. As always, that loudmouth Naruto was first. He failed. Then a couple more went, and it was her turn.
"Shirakawa Zumi."
She walked to the middle of the room and put her hands in the dog sign, then the tiger, then the boar. She concentrated her chakra, and briefly disappeared in a cloud of smoke to reappear as the Third Hokage. Iruka nodded at her, and she dispelled it.
She sat back down at her seat and resumed staring out the window nonchalantly. And she really wasn't excited. She had won, for now. But the cycle would never end. There would always be another test, another task, and someday, she would fail. There was nothing to celebrate to day as she had merely kept afloat for another day.
After everyone was done, Iruka passed out their headbands, making a big speech about how they were shinobi of the leaf now, the few, the proud, the blahblahblah.
"Hey Zumi, congrats."
Zumi turned to face Nara Shikamaru. She checked his face for hostility, and seeing an apparent lack in his bored expression, decided it would be safe to answer.
"Thank you."
She turned away, conversation over. He shrugged at her lack of interest, and turned away. She treated all her classmates similar. She was simply not interested. At first, Ino had tried to become friends, but when she realized that shopping, the latest hairstyles, boys and gossip bored her, she gave it up as a lost cause.
Later, after class was over, Zumi let herself into her apartment. Seeing no one else around, she tried to sneak up to her room. Unfortunately, she had forgotten about her sister's excellent chakra detection skills.
"Brat, I see you passed."
Her sister appeared at the top of the stairs. She pointedly looked at Zumi's new headband where it was wrapped around her left thigh.
"So you made it today. Someday, however, you will be forced to kill or be killed. Someday, you will fail."
She disappeared as fast as she had come, leaving Zumi to herself. Zumi walked up the stairs, stiffly, her lip trembling.
'I will not cry. I am not disappointed. I knew that I would not be congratulated, I should be glad oka-san did not show up, her temper flares much quicker that nii-chan's. They did not hurt me today.'
Finally, in the safety of her room, Zumi let go of the stoic façade she had held all day and cried into her pillow. Finally, after taking a short nap, she crept downstairs to grab a snack, ate it, and then quickly ran back up. Since no one stopped her, her mother and sister must have decided to let her be for the rest of today.
She then fell asleep curled up on her bed.