Disclaimer- If I have ten ice cubes and you have eleven apples; how may pancakes will fit on the roof?
Answer: Purple, because aliens don't wear hats. Oh yeah, it's not mine by the way.
Authors Note- This chapter was annoying. I knew exactly what I wanted to get out (sorta,) but every time I wrote anything it just felt wrong. Even after editing it four times, it still feels awkward. It's probably the dialogue. Bleh. Well I hope you guys enjoy reading it, because wrighting it was a pain.
Chapter 5- I Miss…
"She said, "I'm sad," somehow without any words," Everything is Alright- Laura Shigihara
Dinner at the Yamanaka's became a regular thing for my family. My parents who hadn't gone out much since my birth enjoyed having friends they could talk to. My mother and Yamanaka-san's wife got along especially well. They always talked about their daughters which, to my embarrassment, included me.
My mother would talk about all the trouble they had with me as a baby and how when I was born I had had the umbilical cord wrapped tightly around my neck. That explained a lot.
My brother waved it off as girly talk and would instead question Yamanaka-san about his work at T&I. I was also interested and listened intently to everything he told us. I'm sure that a lot of the stuff that goes on there is confidential and he successfully dodged all pointed questions instead telling the boys about standard procedure.
Izumo was particularly interested in what he had to say. After living with him for a few months, I had learned that he loved watching people and was good at interpreting their actions as well. It made sense.
I'm fairly certain the two of them worked for T&I at some point. My mother tuned in when he spoke of one of the particularly… harsh ways to get people to talk. She went white and quickly covered my ears with her hands. My father laughed it off and told her I was fine and that I was listening as calmly as the boys.
"That's the problem Kinzoku," she snapped at him.
"Yamanaka-san, I hate asking this of you in your own house, but Suikazura…" she trailed off as if she didn't know how to finish, but he seemed to understand.
"It is alright Hagane-san. I will refrain from talking about work with your daughter present,"
"Thank you," she replied gratefully.
"Yeah thanks Suikazura. That was getting interesting you know," Kotetsu said with a pout. One look from my mother had Kotetsu silent the rest of dinner. I noticed though that Yamanaka-san was looking at me strangely. As if I had done something wrong.
Oh. I had been listening to him describe how they torture people for information for over an hour now and had yet to react. I had a friend who used to love horror movies and the like. I would get a daily lecture on how to best physically torture people. At this point talking about couldn't really faze me anymore.
I'm sure if I were to see it I would freak, but I'm fine with just talking about it. I really hoped he would brush it off as being too young to understand. But now he was watching me. He had to have noticed that I don't always act like a four year old should. It's his job to spot these things. How could I be so stupid?
"Hagane-san, I can't help but notice that Suikazura has quite a large vocabulary for someone her age," Yamanaka-san said in a pleasant tone. I couldn't stop my body from involuntarily tensing. Looking up slightly I could see him smiling at my mother but his eyes would dart over to me occasionally, as if sizing me up.
"She has always been very smart. And now that she can read she just sucks up information like a sponge," was my father's reply. He looked over at my father when he began speaking and now he was watching my mother again.
She was of course quick to agree with someone about my supposed intelligence, though I wasn't really feeling any of it right now.
"Oh yes, she practically skipped the stage of one word sentences. When it comes to things like that she gets into a very all or nothing mindset," she said in full out 'mother' mode.
"That's a good trait for a shinobi to have. Tell me, does she plan on attending the academy?" Yamanaka-san asked. My mother tensed a little. That was still a sore subject for her. So instead I decided to reply myself.
"Yes. I will be joining two years from now. Kotetsu and Izumo have been helping me get stronger so that I don't fall behind."
"That's very nice of your brother," he commented.
"Yeah, especially when I wake up extra early to stretch with her in the mornings," Kotetsu said with a slight glare in my direction. Never one to back down from a challenge I did what anyone in my situation would do. I spat at him.
"Suikazura!" was my mother's outraged cry. But it was worth it as now everyone was laughing except Kotetsu who was torn between laughing and glaring harder at me. I just smiled cheekily across the table and the glaring side of him won.
Potential crisis averted we finished our meal and made our way back home. I had forgotten that this was a shinobi village. I don't know why the thought of people knowing about me scared me so much.
Even if they get suspicious of me I have every alibi backing me up. My family knew me. There is no way for me to be working for another village. But I was still a little unsettled from our conversation. What if they thought I was some sort of genius?
Or that I'm really strong or something? Of course they would quickly find out that I wasn't, but I still resolved to be careful around Yamanaka-san. By the time spring and my birthday came around, I had calmed down enough to have a conversation with the man again.
One morning, as I was barefoot in the backyard doing my usual morning exercises, I got so focused on what I was doing that I stopped paying attention to my surroundings. Something I have got to stop doing before it gets me killed.
I had started the morning as I usually did by going outside and beginning my stretching and breathing. Over the winter I had thought about my, as I liked to call it, Green Disposition.
Things would grow if I concentrated and sent my chakra to an area. They would also grow just by being in my general vicinity. And when a plant was in immediate contact with me it would grow even faster.
That was nice and all but I needed it to stop. I figured that if it's all my excess chakra being used, I have to stop leaking chakra. I had no idea how to do that. I know I can't cut the flow off completely but there had to be some way to lessen the amount being sent to my limbs. I just didn't know it.
Instead of dwelling on it, I started to focus on the harder exercises while still trying to keep my breath even. I say try because doing twenty push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, and splits all the while keeping your breath slow and relaxed is not as easy as it sounds.
And it doesn't sound easy. I was finishing up with some more simple things to calm my heart rate when a voice made me jump.
"It's not often you see someone as dedicated as yourself Suikazura. And to think you're not even in the academy yet," a voice from behind me said. Yamanaka-san then laughed at my startled expression causing me to blush. That is really embarrassing.
"Do you get up this early every morning?" he inquired. I nodded my head in reply.
"Well I was just on my way to the green house when I saw you out here. My wife tells me you're very interested in the flowers. Would you like to come along and help?" I was torn. On one hand I really wanted to learn more about them.
My lessons with his wife had been so interesting even if I only ever remembered half of what she tells me. But on the other hand, me in a greenhouse full of plants and a very observant ninja did not sound like a very good idea.
He must have seen the indecision on my face because, in such a persuasive voice, he added, "I'll even let you use the hose." Honestly I'm almost ashamed that that's really all it took.
Against all odds I was able to keep control of myself fairly well, and if he noticed the occasional spike of chakra and healthier flowers he said nothing. At least they didn't go crazy. I had gotten to the point where being near the plants only made them perk up. A few will grow here and there but progress was progress and who was I to complain.
We spoke a little about my training and if I was excited to go to the academy. I played my part of the overly eager child to him quite well and we eventually fell into a comfortable silence. We finished and began to make our way back towards the gate separating our yards when he spoke up.
"That's a nifty thing you can do with the plants." And here I was hoping to get away scot-free.
"Do they always grow so much around you?" The question sounded innocent and was probably meant to make me feel at ease. It had the opposite effect. I didn't know how to answer. Do I tell him and admit to randomly being able to make plants grow?
Wouldn't that make me suspicious? Do I try to play it off as nothing? But wouldn't that make him suspicious of me as well? I wanted to tell him. I hate having to hide it. But I had no idea how he, or anyone for that matter, would react. And now I'd taken too long to reply. Great.
"So you are able to make plants grow just by being in the same area. Have you tested your limits with this ability of yours?" Dejected that I had been found out I just decide to tell him the truth.
And really, I should have expected this. It's his job to get into people's minds and pull out answers, both figuratively and literally, and it's not like I was doing a good job of hiding it either.
"I never specifically tried to push my limits but I did explore them," I replied sullenly. He on the other hand seemed ecstatic that I was answering his questions.
"When did you find out about this?" I thought for a moment before replying, "I felt the plants when I was three, but I never made anything grow until I was four." He nodded his head as if I was just confirming suspicions. That was creepy. Does that mean he had noticed before and had waited to bring it up to me?
"Why did you want to know?" It was worth a shot.
"The ability to control plants, or wood is a little rare. I was merely interested in how much you could do," he said conversationally. Well that's the understatement of the year. Rare is how most would describe wind-type chakra.
Right now there is only one man alive who can do wood element-type Jutsu. I doubt I would ever be able to. Though I can feel wood and make it grow, it always does at a much slower rate than any flowers or vines, and sucks out twice as much chakra.
But it's not like I can tell Yamanaka-san any of this, so instead I just went with, "Oh, is that all?" He laughed a little at the bluntness but nodded his head all the same.
"Why don't you head on home. I'm sure you're hungry for breakfast after all the work you did this morning," he said kindly, reminding me of the time.
"Okay. Thank you for letting me help you in the green-house Yamanaka-san, I had a lot of fun." Smiling sweetly I turn around and head back to my house.
By the time summer came I was still very wary of Yamanaka-san. He hadn't mentioned any of our past conversation to me or my parents. I wondered if he told the Hokage, and if he did I wondered what he said. Did the Hokage tell him to watch me?
That seemed the most likely option at the moment. We were neighbors so it would be easy, as well as the fact that technically I was only five. If he spoke with the Hokage then he must know I can grow plants unnaturally fast, that's all I gave away.
But I'm fairly certain that Yamanaka-san could see where I down played it, and he must have known I was reluctant to tell him. As a civilian I shouldn't know that it is a 'rare' ability, and it makes me wonder what he gathered from that. I was over thinking again and so to distract myself I went off to bother my brother.
The time for his graduation was just a week away and I wanted to spend some more time with him before he got too busy with missions. We spent the day at the park with Izumo and just enjoyed each other's company.
I was seven years younger than them so I understood why they sometimes didn't want to play with me, but it meant a lot to me when they did. The three of us climbed the tree we were beginning to think of as ours and sat together on one of the larger branches chatting idly.
"Next week I'm going to graduate. That makes me a ninja. Which means you have to do everything I say," Kotetsu declared loudly at me.
"I do not! I can do whatever I want. Like push you out of this tree," I trailed off with a mischievous glint in my eye. My comment had its desired effect. He immediately tensed up and grabbed onto the tree trunk, causing Izumo to laugh at our antics.
"You two are so mean to me," he whined.
"You really do deserve it most of the time," Izumo said, causing me to laugh this time. Kotetsu just sighed as if he were the most put upon man on the earth, just causing Izumo and I to laugh even harder.
I knew the boys were nervous about the graduation test, but I also knew that they were even more nervous about their new teams. Neither one of them wanted to be separated. They had grown up together and lived together like brothers; they were each other's comfort zones.
I knew that at school they didn't spend as much time with their other classmates as they did each other. I already knew that they would be on the same team because of my knowledge of the future, but right now to them this must be one of the scariest moments of their life so far.
"They won't separate you, you know." It was quiet but I knew they heard me when Izumo replied.
"What makes you say that?"
"The teachers there have trained you since day one. They know your strengths and weaknesses probably better then you do. They must have seen your teamwork. It's almost flawless. By putting the two of you on a team together with someone who lacks in teamwork, after training together you guys could become part of one of the most efficient teams Konoha has," was my reply.
"Wow Suikazura. That's probably the most I've ever heard you say at one time. You must be ill if you're actually talking to people." That was Kotetsu's way of saying he got the message, but it didn't stop that comment from being obnoxious.
"It's a good thing you don't count as people, then doesn't it?" Never had I been gladder that Izumo was sitting between us. It didn't help that he was laughing though. In the end, Kotetsu and I both rolled our eyes at each other in a silent truce. We both knew we would have more chances to pick on each other in the future.
After that the boys both visibly relaxed and by the time we made it home, though their nerves hadn't left them, they had definitely calmed down. I was glad. I wasn't used to seeing those two, who had always been un-faze-able in my eyes, looking so nervous.
The week passed quietly and on the day of the exam both boys ran home holding out their shiny new Leaf headbands for all of us to see. They were so proud of themselves; it was amusing to watch.
We held a small dinner party with the Yamanaka's who brought a teething baby Ino over as well. There was food, cake, and presents for the boys making the evening one of the most enjoyable I had had in a while. The teams would be announced tomorrow, but for now they were happy and I was glad.
The next day they both came home looking excited. My father and I sat down and just listened as the two of them chattered about their new teammate and Sensei. They had in fact been put on the same team along with a girl named Etsuko. The three of them were to be taught by their new Sensei whose name was Genma.
Kotetsu complained and said he was way too young to be a teacher, but Izumo disagreed and said must have been at least eighteen and he was good. Kotetsu grudgingly agreed.
It was funny to watch them talking back and forth. Something I missed about my old friends was just talking about nothing. Here all the children my age were just that, children. It was frustrating at times.
In my old life, if something was bothering me I wouldn't tell people about it. Instead I talked. It helped me calm my thoughts and figure the answer out for myself.
There was no one here I could talk at, and sometimes I would feel like all the pointless chatter would build up inside me and explode. Wow, I must have been missing people because the image of blowing up for lack of talking is a bit melodramatic.
I miss not being melodramatic on purpose to make my friends laugh. I miss telling corny jokes back and forth just to pass the time. I miss talking about Harry Potter and exposing all the plot holes.
I miss staying up until six in the morning playing Tales of Symphonia and trying to figure out the characters and their motivations even after completing the game multiple times. For the first time in quite a while I missed my life.
No matter how screwed up it had been, I was lucky and had amazing friends. And right then I missed them more than anything else in the world.
Leave a review to make the Cookie Monster love you.
ToeGirth,
Signing Out