Akemi came to school the next day with a sulky, sad look. She sat beside Tamotsu and stared at the desk for a moment, not speaking.
'what's wrong, Akemi?' Tamotsu asked, not able to bear the silence after a minute or two.
'my mom says I'm not allowed to be friends with you any more,' the silver-haired girl mumbled to the tabletop. Tamotsu was a bit taken aback at that.
'but why not? Did I do something wrong?' he asked, eyes wide with surprise and a tiny bit of fear. He didn't want to lose his only friend when he'd only just met her. Akemi shook her head, still not looking up.
'no, I don't think so. She wouldn't tell me why, she just said to stay away from you.' In fact, their conversation had been very puzzling to the five-year-old. She had never seen her mother afraid of anything, but she seemed scared of the white-eyed little boy. 'well, actually, she said it was because your eyes were dangerous. But that's silly.' Akemi finally looked up to her classmate. 'they're not dangerous, are they?'
Tamotsu shook his head with a smirk. 'they might be scary-looking, but I don't think they're anything special. My dad said he was going to teach me how to use my eyes when I turn 6 next month, but I don't know what he meant. He's going to teach me a special family Taijutsu style too- I can't wait for that.' His smirk fell and he looked concerned again. 'your mom really won't let us be friends because of me and my eyes? That's mean.'
Akemi looked Tamotsu in the eye and a spark of determination lit in the onyx depths. 'yeah, it's mean and it's wrong. I'm still going to be your friend, Tamotsu- my mother is just being silly.' With that settled, the teacher came in and the class begun. Tamotsu thanked her with a nod.
Once their second day of class was over, the two made a plan. 'now that I'm in the academy, mom should let me go to the market by myself. So I'll tell her I want to go there on Friday, and then I'll come visit your house for a little while. Will that work, do you think?'
'there's only one way to find out. We'll meet at the dumpling shop, in case she follows you, and I'll lead you to my house from there. My dad will be home from a mission by then, and I bet he'd love to meet you!' Tamotsu bounced a little with excitement and the pair gathered their things, making sure they left the doors separately even though their mothers weren't there this time.
When Friday came around, Akemi was honestly surprised at her mother's agreement with her daughter's wish to go by herself to the market road. 'you have to be back before sundown, but you can go if you want.' She gave her daughter a small purse with a few coins in it. 'you can get a few pieces of candy if you want, or a snack. I want you back for the evening meal, though, so don't pig out too much.' She smiled, and patted Akemi's silver-haired head. 'go make some new friends, dear, and have fun.' The little girl tucked the tiny purse into her school bag and headed for the academy.
'thank you mom! I will!' she scampered off to the academy to tell Tamotsu the good news.
'that's fantastic! And my dad got home last night, so you get to meet him too!' the little boy bounced in excitement while they waited for their first Friday of class to begin.
'you never said- what's your dad's name? you said he was a Jonin like my dad, so maybe they knew each other.' Akemi hadn't said much of anything about her father, of course, but since he had only died fairly recently it wasn't surprising.
'oh, yeah. His name is Hideaki. What was your dad's name?' Tamotsu smiled with friendly curiosity as Akemi hesitated, feeling as if she'd heard that name before.
'Daisuke.'
That took the little boy aback- he had heard that name a lot in his household over the past few months. 'I know that name! my father was on a mission with him a few months ago! Your dad is the reason I still have mine, you know that?' Akemi looked away, unable to bear Tamotsu's excitement with her own grief welling up. She started to cry, as she almost always did when she thought of her father. 'ah, I'm sorry, Akemi. Your father is a hero. He saved a lot of people besides my dad that day.'
Akemi nodded and sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve. 'I don't wanna talk about it anymore.' She looked toward the front of the classroom resolutely and Tamotsu sighed, saying, 'don't worry, you guys are going to get along great.'