DISCLAIMER- I own nothing! Any references are just me being 'current' (?)
Warning: vague mentions of suicide
….
"This…will change everything." I announced with great importance, slowly setting down the plate with all the reverence of a holy relic.
Ensui didn't look so convinced.
"Isn't it just a round cake?" he drawled, mirroring me with one hand propping up his chin.
I looked over his shoulder like I was in The Office at his naivety and he groaned.
"Why do you always do that?" I covered my eyes, shoulders shaking with giggles when I realised I'd been caught, "There's never anything there!" He glanced suspiciously over his shoulder and I tried not to die. *Ahem*
"THIS is a brownie." I waited for the applause and was predictably disappointed when Ensui merely squinted at my creation.
"A what?"
"A brownie bomb!" I announced proudly and then burst out laughing when the Nara threw himself out of his chair in a rare show of alertness.
"Who the hell gave you explosives?! And what are they doing in a cake?"
…
My, ahem, creation of centre-filled cakes took off, in my friendship and family circles, like a rocket.
Not that they…had them…here…
I started off relatively simple; melt-in-the-middle brownies, sticky toffee puddings and volcano desserts. The difficulty of selling this stuff was the fact that they were meant to be warm, for the most part.
The next time I was in Ichiraku, gulping down a Miso' at the bar, I outlined the latest creations to the Ramen Chef.
When I told Teuchi about the hot desserts, he stroked his chin for a while in thought, pacing behind the counter at Ichiraku at 7 in the morning. As for the earliness of the hour, when you were a business partner, you got ramen no matter the clock. Teehee.
"Well…you'll just have to make them to order then, won't you?" he decided, gesturing to the area around where my fridge was set up.
"B-b-but," I gulped, "I'd need an oven then, Teuchi-san, and a fridge and a freezer and loads of equipment! I couldn't do that! This is your ramen stand, I can't just come in on that!" I wasn't going to elbow in on his limited space any more than I had. It wasn't fair, Teuchi had worked a lot for a place like this and I couldn't just take up a third of the available room with my own business venture.
I was going to have to 'move out', wasn't I? Aww, shit.
I was back to square one with the stall! Sure, I could just stay put and forget about the idea of made-to-order stuff but, well, progress! I needed the kick up the arse to get moving again and this might just be it.
I'd been lavishing ANBU with bite-sized treats for a good 6 months now and my unseen customers had only grown. Demand was still consistent and, with the amount of dessert I threw around the various Clan Compounds, I really did need some better facilities. Heck, I was only 10!
But how was I going to get a place?
Sure, I had a small fortune from my maternal grandparents (they'd worked hard as silk merchants well into their 60s, accumulating a lot of savings and not spending too much), but I wanted to keep that aside for any nasty surprises. Business and all that jazz. And money wouldn't get me all that far with regards to an actual stall.
On that front, my enemy wasn't the ninja system or money but the Civilian Council.
Bunch of fuckers-!
Feeling their own lack of importance, the rich – and stereotypically old – Civilian Council members had been trying to puff up their own importance in the last few decades, as far as I could tell. They kept a strangle hold on whatever they could get their pampered little paws on.
Which included the Market.
Now, I may have considered ANBU phase one but, in reality, it was half a phase, if anything. I wasn't providing life or death commodities, so any pressure from my Elite customers would be considered materialistic. I had cultivated their support (or at least their interest) but I needed something more than just increasing my popularity through the shinobi ranks.
But I now had another plan.
(I'd have queued evil cackling but, well, I was eating and it was only 7am.)
…..
"Kiharu-chan, right?" A vaguely familiar voice asked beside me when I was walking back from the Yamanaka's and I turned to meet a grinning brunette.
"O-samu-kun?" I guessed, recognising the taller boy from Ensui's party months ago.
"Yeah, that's me!" he smiled easily and my lips twitched up in response. The last time I'd seen him, he'd been the dopiest drunk I'd even seen. In both lives. And, coming from a student? That was a serious claim. Then again, he was only just 15, if my memory served.
"How have you been?" he asked, easily falling into step beside me. I wondered if he did everything with such an easy-going attitude.
"Oh," I shrugged, "Just fine, everything's been peaceful. And you?"
"Couple of missions here and there, most with Ensui." We dodged a few younger kids as they came bounding around the corner and I wondered where this random-ass conversation was going.
"Good." I coughed.
It was silent for a few moments as I tried desperately to think of something to say other than repeating 'good' again.
"Well…" The older boy sounded just as awkward. "I'm glad that everything is so peaceful. Although, I can't imagine it would be anything else, for a-"
"Kiharuuuuuuuu!" Kotetsu swooped in to save my soul and I all but threw myself into the other 15-year-old's startled arms. My favourite, I tell you! I'd never cuss him out again!
"Tetsu!" I grabbed him and started pushing us both back the way we came. "You needed me, didn't you?!"
Unfortunately, the older boy was just as quick as most 15-year-old males.
Meaning, slow as fucking shit (it was all puberty, I tell ya').
"Wha-? No, I just-" Kotetsu looked at me like I was deranged and I wished I knew how to telepathically tell him to get me out of here. Tragically, I had to make do with what I had and, thinking fast, I shoved the apple core I'd been holding (waiting for a bin like the good little eco-warrior I pretended I was) into his talking mouth.
Hopefully he wouldn't actually die on me.
"Oh no!" I gasped, hands still clamped over his mouth as the genin started choking. "Quick!" I whirled around to Osamu – who was looking like he had no fucking clue what was happening, I didn't really blame him – "Get help, this poor boy is choking!"
Thankfully, we'd moved onto one of the residential streets at that point and there were no street vendors to call me out on my bullshit.
When the Chuunin had run off, I finally removed my hands from my friend's face.
Tetsu wasted no time in spitting out the apple core, face red as he scowled up at me with his hands rested on his knees. Even bent over double, he was almost my height. Jeeze, how my boys had grown up~
"What the hell, Kiharu?!"
Rolling my eyes and patting his back consolingly, I told him that we all must make sacrifices for the sake of friendship.
He, understandably, didn't look too impressed.
"What did I just witness?" Another voice lamented behind us and I prayed to Jashin-sama to spare me my social life.
"Heyy there, Iruka-kun! Fancy seeing you around here!"
"…"
(Kotetsu continued coughing in the background.)
"Kiharu-san, the Orphanage is right there."
…
I went to Yuri-oba's shop on a Thursday in May, armed with fresh strawberry tart and straight from the hairdressers (a simple trim of my face-framing bangs and a cut from my thighs back up to my hips).
Akane-sama was there when I arrived and I beamed at the evidence of the two older ladies' friendship. The shop was empty except for two older women browsing the silks, aided by Gin, and Akane sipping tea behind the counter with Yuri-oba.
"Good morning!" I sang as I opened the push-door with my hip, arms nursing the cake tin.
"Kiharu-chan!" Yuri-oba beamed, shakily rising up to greet me before I rushed forwards and mothered her back down. Waving away my concern at her paleness, she poured me a drink without having to ask. "And what are you up to today, young lady?"
"Well," I grinned guiltily at my own transparency, "I wanted a new dress for my tea party with Mikoto-hime, one specially for her birthday." She would be having some big event to celebrate her 35th birthday with the Clan on the actual day, so I planned for our usual Friday tea-party to be extra special instead.
Maybe it sounded strange, for a bunch of kids to hold a party for a 35-year-old Clan Head's Wife, but Mikoto had always loved spending time with us and Friday's had come to be our days for tea.
I invited Hana and Shisui, alongside Mikoto's boys, and I hoped it would all be okay. I'd wanted to invite Ensui as well and maybe Ino-imouto too, but Sora-oba didn't like Ino out the house with just me this young and Ensui was pegged for a C-rank around then. Thankfully, I'd already hounded him to make something small for Mikoto's official gift, using the crafting tools I'd picked up for his birthday. He'd done an amazing job and I'd gaped at him for a solid 2 minutes when I'd caught sight of the little red gem earrings (with tiny rubies I'd painfully forked out for). They were continuous rings, a single spiral of wire with delicate flames curing along the metal and a dot of ruby at the centre. There were no fasteners, the hoop just curved through the piercing and hung from the lobe. Don't ask me how he went from fixing weaponry to crafting something like this.
They were perfect.
So, despite not being able to attend, Ensui had really helped me out and I knew I owed him one. Again.
The likelihood of Hana getting on amazing with Mikoto was high, they already liked each other in passing.
The likelihood of Hana and Itachi?
I planned on cornering Shisui later to work out a battle strategy.
But I'd planned the picnic to be on the hills beside the Hokage monument, outside of the Uchiha Compound and easily visible from the main playground and most of the residential buildings. Whilst this was a bit daunting, knowing that as soon as we were recognised we'd have a tonne of noisy buggers watching, but this was all part of the plan!
I was 10, Shisui would turn 12 in a few months, and I was getting nervous.
I estimated that I had until Itachi was almost 13, another 6 years until it all went to hell. He would be eight in another week, as well.
If I couldn't stop it…how could I rest knowing that, on the other side of the village, Itachi was on a spree with Tobi? That Shisui would already have…died? Casting himself into the river, blinded and hopeless. Nothing like the smiling boy I loved.
No! I couldn't! The thought of having to live the rest of my life without them, years that stretched ahead of me, empty of Shisui and Mikoto-
Would I even be able to stay in my bed, knowing what was happening and wondering who at that moment had died? I…wasn't sure I could bare it. Would I be stupid enough to leave the safety of my home, wander across to the Compound to hear the screams and probably get caught up with the death?
It was different this time; rather than waiting for Kyuubi like a natural disaster, I was trying to stop cold-blooded murder. I had been ruined by Kyuubi, the guilt and the self-hatred, and that had been when I'd known nothing I did could help.
If I failed this time, after actively trying? I didn't know how I'd cope, in the eye of the storm.
After all, I'd already died once, right?
"Well, then!" Yuri-oba jerked me back to the present, gesturing for me to follow her into one of the fitting rooms, one of the ones furnished with a sofa, fitting stool and wall-to-wall mirror. Akane-sama followed along behind, carrying our tea and my cake tin with her, looking amused. As we walked, Yuri-oba would occasionally stick her hand into a rack and yank something out and I was in awe of how well she knew her stock. A glimpse showed that they were all similar enough measurements for me, ones that could be easily altered or taken in for when I grew without wasting fabric.
After the two older women fussed and settled themselves on the sofa, they turned to look at me expectantly.
What?
"Well?" Akane-sama quirked a brow and I wondered how she made everything look regal. "Go try them on!"
I scrambled behind the changing curtain post-haste.
Changing rooms were weird places, I mused as I picked a pastel pink dress first. If you were in a good mood, you could be the vainest bitch in the world! Posing like it was your very own magic mirror, sometimes it was a photoshoot opportunity that wasn't to be wasted. I'd had moments when I'd thought 'my makeup is fineeee, this day' or I'd felt super confident.
Other days? Even the nicest dress could make you feel like a potato, wrapping yourself in a duvet and depressing yourself trawling through fitness accounts on Insta. You felt 'blehhh' and just wanted to go home afterwards, if you even managed to drag yourself into the changing room in the first place.
We all did it and we all felt that way sometimes. Good days and bad days, it was the effect of social standards towards beauty and our own body image. I'd had days before when I felt tall and strong; other days, I felt 'manly' and clumsy. I'd never had small fingers or delicate bones. I was strong, from the gym and my fencing, tall from my 6ft plus parents. My glasses hadn't really helped either; no matter how stylish I got them, I always felt a bit like the girl in the films before the transformation.
As I undressed now, even at 10, I couldn't help but note how my body had changed.
I was thin and gangly, my tan fading but still leaving slight lines decorating my shoulders and thighs. My face was round, still full-cheeked in my childishness, and my nose was pointy. Thick brows, yet to be touched besides making sure I didn't have a mono, arched a bit sarcastically above my huge blue eyes. My ears were a bit big and the skin of my hands already leathery from all the baking.
It was wonderful.
I wasn't perfect. I wasn't a knock-out beauty at age 10 but there was a certain warmth to my face which made it nice to look at. I wasn't going to be a Mary Sue child supermodel but my face was familiar and, like with Ensui and Iruka, there was something about my expression which made it appealing.
My death had made me treasure the little things and find a marvel in everything. I'd complained about spots and greasy hair beforehand. Now? It was just another aspect in life. Sure, I was gangly and my face was a perfect circle, but it was a part of this new me and, from someone who'd already had one body, I could appreciate everything about this one. In this one, I didn't have a lung condition or a terrible nut allergy (milk still made me itch but I didn't give a shit and drank it anyway). Things like bad skin and stretchmarks, which would come with time, would just be proof of how I'd grown. Marilyn Monroe would've had them, Audrey Hepburn too. It didn't make them any less wonderful, did it?
When I started getting lines and wrinkles, I'd consider it a success, a trophy for living long enough this time.
Like with Inoichi and Ensui, I liked to think I could find beauty in anyone's features, regardless of gender or anything. Not that beauty was the be-all and end-all, but it was important to recognise how everyone was beautiful in their own way.
Wow, I was really getting poetic about this.
My English lit and Art teacher would've been so proud!
The first dress was a delicate pink colour with a sweetheart neckline and floaty skirt. After racing out to spin for my two aides, we all decided it was way too dressy for a picnic. Whilst Mikoto and I could make the theme work, the boys would be careless enough to rock up in their training clothes.
Hana would probably complain too.
The second was a gorgeous fresh green, like mint-leaves, and had a softness to it. A simple scoop neck with loose cap sleeves, I set it aside to buy for casual wear but it wasn't really anything special enough for a birthday party.
Third times the charm! This one was lovely, a lavender kimono-dress that fell to my knees with short sleeves and an almost-white pink obi. The fabric was quite light, decorated with white daisies and with a single, simple white shift underneath. The fourth dress, a sunny yellow number with a flowy skirt and white buttons, was adorable and I ran out to ask the ladies what they thought.
At this point, they'd drank their way through a second pot of tea and were making good headway with the tart. I rolled my eyes at their antics, holding the two dresses side by side with my head popping out between them.
"Well?!" I prompted when Yuri-oba started whispering and gesturing to the hem of the yellow one.
Tapping one finger to her chin, Akane-sama scrutinised the two looks with a flicker of her eyes and I wondered if I'd not gone a bit OTT asking for their help.
"The kimono." Yuri-oba declared and Akane-sama started exclaiming her agreement.
"Not the dress?" I asked, "What about looking more approachable and relatable?"
Akane-sama turned to look at me in surprise.
"What are you talking about?" she tucked her finger under my chin affectionately. "Approachable? Relatable? You're just having a birthday picnic!"
Crap, I didn't mean to say that out loud-!
"I-err-I just meant that I don't want Hana thinking Itachi is any stuffier than she already does!" I nodded quickly, "She already thinks he's stuck up because he's so quiet and has already graduated. I'm trying to, well, make them friendlier. So, I want everything to be as relaxing as possible and my dress can't be so formal that we all look stuffy." I noticed how Akane-sama' s eyes had softened, undoubtedly thinking about how isolated all the Uchiha had been feeling recently, and I went in for the finishing blow.
"I just want them all to have more friends."
A warm hand grasped mine as another pair came down on my shoulders. "Oh, Kiharu," Akane-sama smiled and I thought I saw a proud sparkle in her eyes for a moment.
"You're such a sweet child. Those boys better know how good you are to them."
Blushing and a bit flustered, I cleared my throat and glanced away.
"Still the kimono, then?"
Yuri-oba snorted and squeezed my shoulders, throwing the lavender garment over my head.
"Yes, Kiharu-chan," I heard the smile in her voice. "You're getting that kimono, even if I have to leave it on your doorstep."
…..
On the Friday before Mikoto's birthday, I left the house on a mission. I'd finished all the preparations the previous day, dropping round the Uchiha and Inuzuka Compounds in person to make sure everyone knew where to go and at what time etc.
I'd spent a good two hours rummaging through Hana's wardrobe, snarling about appropriate outfits as Tsume cackled in the doorway.
When I'd finally admitted defeat, I'd dragged Hana's reluctant body back to my house, shoving a nice top into her arms and, when she looked to be on the cusp of bailing the entire thing, a nice pair of shorts. They were baby blue linen, with an eyelet lace design along the edge, and fell loosely to mid-thigh. The top was matching, the same material and colour, with a high neckline and no sleeves. After all, who said you needed a dress to look fresh AF? The pair was also too small for me now, bought the previous summer before I'd grown again, and I insisted that Hana keep them. Aw, didn't I just feel like a real older sibling now?
By the time I'd terrified Hana into coming, it was dinnertime and too late to track down Shisui.
So, early this morning was when I set out.
"Shisui!" I called, noting a dark head of curls near the academy fields. "Shi-kun!" I tried again and voila! His head whipped around, eyes popping at the nick-name. I'd only ever called him it a few times, mainly when one of us was sick or I'd really missed him.
The academy kids were waiting for school to start, milling around on the other end of the field, and I scampered over to my best friend where he was sitting against a tree.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, plonking myself down beside him, noting the handfuls of grass he'd ripped up around him.
"Hmm?" He continued staring towards the academy.
"Shisui."
"Ah," He cast me a smile and I squinted at how false it looked. "Nothing, Ki-chan. Just felt sentimental, wanted to see the old place again." He gestured towards the school yard.
"What's got you all melancholy?" I bumped shoulders with him and he shrugged me off. "You know, you can talk to me abou-"
"It's nothing, Kiharu. Leave it, okay?"
Lips parting, I stared straight forwards. "How do you want to get Hana and Itachi talking tomorrow?" I asked casually. Shisui had never spoken to me like that before. He'd yelled and screamed, we both had. When I was eight, we'd fallen out for an entire three weeks because of some stupid misunderstanding about being too busy to see each other.
Shisui was my absolute best friend and he'd never spoken to me so coldly before.
With a sigh, a warm arm (so familiar in fact, it felt like Shisui had been with me always) dropped around my shoulders. I was taller again, even just sitting down, and his shoulder had to dip upwards to reach.
"I don't know…how do you want to go about it?"
"Hana might ignore him – at best, in all honesty – and Itachi might just go silent," I folded my knees up to my chest, pulling away from leaning back on Shisui's arm. "The best we can do is try and get them talking, maybe about something other than ninja stuff so Hana doesn't get huffy about Itachi's graduation."
"So…what, then?"
I let out a startled laugh, forgetting myself for a moment and turning to flash him a grin over my shoulder.
"Hmmm…dessert?"
For the first time since I'd arrived, Shisui looked away from the school-grounds and smiled.
"Come one," I clambered up, brushing away the blades of grass that Shisui had ripped up and had clung to my yukata. "We're all meeting in a few hours so do you want to grab a quick breakfast?"
Reaching up to grab my hand, Shisui gave me a cheeky grin as I pulled him up.
"Sure...so long as you're paying, of course!"
…..
Dressed in my new kimono and some pink pumps, I heaved the huge cake tin into my cart.
When I turned 10, Neko-Tou had given me a new one; taller and a beautiful scarlet, it was no children's toy cart that rolled close to the ground. It almost reached my ribs and had a strong push handle, like on a supermarket kart or a pram.
Wheeling the cake to the field, I nervously checked on the bottles of lemonade I'd made as well, listening to the basic glass clink heavily against each other. It was homemade, so wasn't fizzy (I didn't know how the fuck that worked) but I remembered the recipe well enough from the stall I'd had to run in secondary school.
Never thought I'd be thankful for Miss James' stupid group projects…
When I finally arrived, Hana was just coming up the hill behind me and jogging to catch up as we reached the site. We set up on a slight slope, close enough to some trees that we had a bit of shelter but not so close we'd be bothered with leaves and birds.
Hana had brought some bento boxes of food to share, sushi and other various nibbles we could eat with little fuss. Spreading out a large blanket (I ignored the dog-hair…with Inuzuka, you just had to accept some things and I didn't give a shit anyway), we set out some cups and the boxes.
A few minutes later, Shisui had appeared next to me on the blanket and Mikoto was coming up the hill with a massive smile, holding Sasuke on her hip and walking beside Itachi. The bag slung over her shoulder was revealed to hold the rest of the food and some picnic plates.
I couldn't help but smile smugly at how nicely she'd forced the boys to dress until-
"Shisui, weren't you wearing that this morning?" said boy just blinked at me as if he couldn't conceive why he should have changed, even if I knew he'd been training since dawn.
The inevitable squabble only ended when Itachi was grabbed as a meatsheild and I remembered I needed to give Mikoto her present. (Behind our backs, Shisui and Hana both slipped me some notes and I consequently handed the gift over, saying it was from all three of us and Ensui.)
Needless to say, she loved it.
Not only were they red and designed like a curling whirl of flame, they also reminded me of the spinning Sharingan. When I said Ensui made them, the considering look on Mikoto's face had me wondering if the older boy would be opening his own stall next to mine one day.
Well, if Noko couldn't be here to have her flower shop annexed, then maybe a jewellery stall would work instead.
The meal was great, outside in the sunshine and the food. I whipped out the desert, which I'd nervously noted had been out of the fridge for almost an hour at this point, and everyone stared blankly at the heap of white on the tray.
Well, until their eyes lit up when I lit it on fire.
What a nice debut for my Baked Alaska, I mused.
The fire theme seemed to please the ninja and the ice-cream was happily smeared all over Sasuke's face. With no one from the Clan around to turn up their nose, the almost-three-year-old was eating as messily as he pleased. Well~
"Sasuke!" Mikoto laughed, leaning over to wipe at her youngest's mouth, only for the little boy to squirm away. Watching the 3-year-old's antics for a minute, Hana laughed and easily reached over to swipe at the mess and, when we all looked surprised, she simply shrugged.
"Every baby is easy to deal with when you're used to one like Kiba!"
After that, Sasuke seemed to take a bit of a shine to the Inuzuka, especially when she proved to know all the best games to play. I was pleased to see some of the tension ease when both Hana and Itachi were pulled into a game of Hide-and-Seek. It wasn't fixed, they still weren't really talking, but it was better than awkward silences.
"Mikoto-hime," I took the reprise to turn to the Uchiha Matriarch, "I actually wanted to talk to you about something."
I knew it was bad form to talk business at a party, never mind with the birthday girl, but I wanted to get it off my chest ASAP. Sue me, I'm tense!
"I…want to open up a stall. I'll get an actual shop eventually, when I'm older, but I can't camp out at Ichiraku's forever! It's been three years and I think I need to move on." I shuffled a bit, pointedly watching the other three play around the trees, and trying not to think about how silly it sounded.
A 10-year-old business owner? Did that count as prodigious?
"Oh, Kiharu-chan, that sounds wonderful!" Mikoto turned to me with a smile before a slight frown pulled at her brows. "But what does that have to do with me?" I knew she knew I wasn't playing a political game here, whether from befriending her or the children, but it still made me nervous to think that some people might've thought I'd come in with an ulterior motive.
I mean, I had. But the whole 'I-Don't-Want-You-Guys-To-Be-Slaughtered-In-The-Night' was a considerably more hush-hush operation. Membership number: currently 1.
But anyway, this was the awkward bit. And to think, I needed to ask Sora-oba, Yuri-oba, Yoshino, Kaiya and Tsume as well (the more, the merrier). Fuck my life.
I blushed scarlet, embarrassed, and fiddled with the folds of my kimono.
"Would you…sponsor my petition to the Civilian Council?"
….
A/N- Hey! Thank you to everyone who's fav/followed/reviewed this fic so far! I've had the most incredible response so far and I just wanted to thank you all! I hope you enjoy this chapter X