"Kanna-chan~" Inori sings in my ear. I groan as I wipe my eyes. I hear Shiki snort and I open my eyes to glare at him.
"Do you want to tell Shikamaru bye before you go to school?" He raises an eyebrow. I nod my head yes immediately. I look down at Ino who is fast asleep in Inori's other arm. I reach down and pat her stomach over her blanket.
"Be good and cause a lot of trouble for Inori, okay Ino-chan?" She blinks her eyes open before she turns her head and falls back asleep. Inori kisses the top of my head before he puts me on the ground. I look up at Shiki who kneels down with Shikamaru. The little Nara is actually awake, his dark brown eyes blink up at me. I grin and pat his little hands.
"Take a good nap, Shikamaru-kun. Your jiji looks like he needs one, too." My jiji if things had been different. If I wasn't an experiment.
"I definitely do," Shiki grumbles as he stands up. I turn to Choutarou who moves little Choji from his carrier and holds him out for me. I carefully take the baby in my arms and hold him close to my chest.
"I don't need to tell you to be good Cho-kun, you're the bestest behaved baby in the world!" Choji starts giggling as I turn us around a few times. Since meeting Choutarou and Shiki a few weeks ago, I've spent a lot of time with Choji. He's the cutest! The little swirls on his cheeks are adorable, especially when he puffs them out.
"Time to stop procrastinating, Kanna-chan," Inori says. I pout up at him before I carefully put Choji back in his grandfather's arms.
"Okay," I say after Choutarou wraps me in a quick hug. "But Inori?" I fiddle with my fingers instead of looking up at him. I feel the air shift around me and see him crouched in front of me.
"What's up?" He asks quietly.
"What should I do about the orphanage?"
"They should move your things over for you and get you some new supplies at the shinobi orphanage, just head there after school today, okay?"
"Okay," I nod my head before he pats it like he did in the hospital.
"Good, now go in before you're late." I pout but turn around and start to walk towards the front door of the academy. I turn around once and Choutarou waves at me. I smile at him and his team before I turn back and walk towards the academy doors.
"And don't forget to stop by the shop, Kanna-chan!" Inori calls out. I hear a wail and Shiki curse before Choutarou's booming laugh fills the academy courtyard.
I shake my head as I walk into the building.
But the smile doesn't leave my face until I speak to my new teacher.
I walk to the classroom the sensei in the administration office had showed me when I came to get my supplies. I regret procrastinating when I slide the door to the classroom open. Almost every seat is already filled.
The bell rings as soon as I step into the classroom. I cringe. The sensei who sits at the front desk raises his eyebrows before he tilts his head to the front of his desk.
"And you are?" He asks as I stand in front of him.
"Kanna."
"Last name?" He asks after he writes down my first.
"I don't have one," I say as I scratch the back of my head.
"Go back to the civilian class, kid." He says as he goes to cross out my name.
"I don't have a last name, but I'm living at the shinobi orphanage." His pen pauses as he looks up at me.
"And when did you start living there?"
"I'm going to move in after school today."
"Today, huh?" He smirks. "You really should've come up with a better story, kid."
"She's telling the truth, sensei," a quiet voice says. I look to my right and a boy with long black hair and black eyes stands beside me. I hadn't even noticed him!
I've been trying to ignore my sensing abilities like Hayami had taught me to do in our last session. All of the different chakra signatures were overwhelming.
"And how do you know that, Itachi?" Oh! He's Fugaku's son! I smile at the boy beside me.
"Yamanaka-sama and his team dropped Kanna-san off this morning. I overheard Yamanaka-sama telling Kanna-san to stop by his family's shop on the way home."
"It's nice to meet you, Itachi!" I chirp, unable to stop myself. His dad was so nice to me in the hospital, I'm sure he won't mind, right? The boy in question gives a hint of a smile as he nods.
"It is nice to meet you as well, Kanna-san."
"You can just call me Kanna, y-ya know?" I flinch when I stutter at the end.
"Okay," Itachi says. "You can sit beside me."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," he nods. "May we take our seats, sensei?"
"Go," the man in question waves towards a desk at the front of the room. "I will be confirming your story with the administrative sensei during lunch," sensei pins me with a look and I gulp as I turn away from him.
I follow Itachi back to his seat, at the center table in the front row of the classroom.
"Thank you," I whisper to the boy beside me as we sit down. He nods his head slightly before he looks back to the front of the room. The first lessons of the day are all theory. Apparently in the time between the war ending and classes restarting, the curriculum had changed.
We will focus on theory classes and basic training the first few years, and eventually we will start focusing on more physical training over time. The thought of diving head first into physical training is terrifying to me. I've been trying to meditate like Hayami had told me to, but there were no books in the orphanage about training.
Maybe I can find some at the new orphanage later.
Sensei stands from his desk and starts calling out names.
After roll is called, it's clear that all of the other kids in my class are clan kids. Two of which are future clan heads.
Needless to say, sensei ignored me the entire morning.
What a drag.
"Would you like to join me for lunch?" A quiet voice pulls me out of my thoughts. I almost fall off the swing I'm sitting on. The small amount of money I was given for lunches this week wouldn't even cover an onigiri, so I just resorted to swinging in the courtyard of the academy.
Itachi looks at me, his face calm. But I can see his hands shake slightly at his sides. Behind him, I can see girls practically drooling as they watch him with heart eyes and I immediately feel bad for him.
Itachi doesn't seem to fit in with the other kids. He didn't scream out his answers like most of the other kids in the class. He sat in his seat silently and quietly. He would raise his hand to answer if no one else knew the answer. He barely took notes during class. He's a genius.
So why does he want me to eat with him?
"I don't have anything," I finally say.
"That's okay," he says. "My mother wanted me to invite a friend over for lunch since we are now allowed to leave the academy grounds."
"Are we friends?" I ask as I look at the boy in front of me.
"I would like to be, I only have one friend, my older cousin."
"You'll be my first friend," I say quietly, looking down at my already falling apart sandals.
"We can learn what it means to be best friends together, then." I look up to see a ghost of a smile on his face. I try to stop my own smile but I can't. I don't want to look too eager but I still hop off the swing with a wide smile.
"I'd like that."
"Me too," he finally gives a small smile. "Let's go now, so we have time to eat."
Along the way to Itachi's house he grabs my hand so we don't get separated in the crowd. People do double takes as they watch us walk by and it takes everything in me to not run the opposite direction.
The last thing I want is for people to pay attention to me. I just want to fade into the background and live as peaceful of a life as I can as a shinobi. I don't want another meeting with the village elders.
Itachi still holds my hand in his as we come up to a large gate with a bright red and white fan painted on it.
"Hey there Itachi-kun, who is this?" One of the men standing at the gate asks as he looks down at us.
"This is my best friend, Kanna. She's here for lunch."
"Oh," the man says, his lips twitching into a small smile. "Well, of course she is, have a good lunch, Itachi-kun and Kanna-chan."
"Thank you," Itachi and I say at the same time. We look at each other before looking back in front of us. The men at the gate laugh quietly as Itachi leads me down the street once we're inside of the Uchiha district.
"The guards at the gate are gossips," Itachi says as we turn a corner. I squeeze his hand in support. Itachi doesn't like attention focused on him, either.
"I think all shinobi are," I say as I look around. There are tons of vendor stalls set up on the main street and smaller store fronts off to the side. Soon we start to pass by different houses and an apartment building.
"Really?" Itachi asks. "I did not think most shinobi would be."
"Well, I think it's the higher ranks mainly," I say as I kick a small rock in front of me. "They have more time off in the village than chunin and genin who have missions within the village itself. So they need something to keep them busy when they're not out on dangerous missions."
"And gossip is entertaining because there is the chance of getting caught," Itachi says.
"Exactly," I nod. "Inori is the worst gossip, though."
"He is?" Itachi tilts his head slightly.
"He's really bad at just blurting things out, I think it's 'cause he has to keep so many secrets for work that the smaller things just kinda fall out instead."
"That makes sense," Itachi murmurs. "Working in torture and interrogation must be difficult."
"Yeah," I say. I feel awkward now that I've brought the mood down. "But he's got his family's flower shop and flower shops are full of the most juicy gossip."
"They are?" We turn another corner. My mouth drops at the size of the house at the end of the street, but Itachi just keeps walking as normal.
"Well, think about it. People get other people flowers for all sorts of things."
"Like what?"
"Well, there was this one guy that came in asking for flowers for forgiveness because he went out to a bar with his friends and forgot that he had an anniversary dinner with his girlfriend."
"Oh no," Itachi says. I feel something brush against my leg and clench my free hand to stop my scream. I look down and relax when I realize it's not something that can hurt me. It's a very fat cat with black fur and white spots.
I throw my hand over my mouth, "So cute!"
"You can pet him," Itachi says. "He never comes up to new people."
"Really?" I ask as I lean down to pet the cat on his head. He starts purring. Loudly.
"He normally only allows father to pet him."
"Of course he would, your dad's really nice," I say as I continue to pet the cute cat. I feel Itachi's hand squeeze mine and look back up at him. He has a confused look on his face and I rush to explain. "I was in the hospital a few weeks ago and he came to visit me, he told me we might be in the same class!"
"Oh," Itachi says. "Are you okay now?"
"Yeah! I'm good," I say. It's not a complete lie. I'm better than I have been, especially now that I know I won't be stuck in the civilian orphanage long term.
"Mrow!" The cat under my hand is very upset I turned my attention away from him.
"If you'd like, you can carry him if he lets you."
"Are you sure?"
Itachi nods, smiling down at the cat. I reluctantly let go of Itachi's hand and reach out to pick up the cat at my feet. It's awkward at first, and he's really heavy, but eventually he's happily purring in my arms as we walk down the street. We end up walking to the large house at the end of it. Itachi walks up the steps easily and I struggle to follow him.
Both from my shock and the bundle of fur in my arms.
"Itachi-kun! You're late~" A older boy with curly black hair and kind eyes teases Itachi as soon as he opens the front door.
"I brought my best friend, Kanna, to have lunch with us," Itachi says. The boy blinks at Itachi before looking at me.
"Fuwa Fuwa! You've betrayed me again!"
"Huh?" I squeak. The cat in my arms huffs and nuzzles its head into my arm.
"Fuwa Fuwa is his name," Itachi says as he nods to the cat.
"Oh," I say. I hide my face in Fuwa Fuwa's back to hide my smile. But then I get an idea and look up at the curly haired boy.
"It's nice to meet you Fuwa Fuwa," I grin as the boy's face first scrunches up in confusion. It takes him a second before he lets out a loud guffaw.
"It-" the boy struggles to talk between his laughs. "It's nice to meet you, Kanna-hime!"
"Eh?" I ask the boy. "I'm not a princess!"
"You have to be for that cat to like you! He only lets Fugaku-ojisan hold him!"
"Oh, should I call him Fugaku-hime, then?" Both boys in front of me freeze, their mouths open in shock. I hear a feminine giggle and look by the other boy to see a woman with kind black eyes and long black hair cover her mouth to muffle her giggles. She reminds me of the nurse when I was in the hospital.
"Welcome, Kanna-chan. I'm Uchiha Mikoto, Itachi's mother."
"It's nice to meet you Mikoto-san!" I try to bow a little, but the cat in my arms protests. "Okay, okay." I whisper to him as I nuzzle against the top of his head. He purrs again before Mikoto speaks.
"Come inside, you four. I don't want you two rushing to eat," she says as she looks at me and Itachi. I follow them inside, slipping my shoes off at the genkan and looking around the interior of the house in awe.
"Shisui-kun, could you set another place at the table please?" Mikoto asks.
"You got it, Mikoto-obachan!" Shisui gives her a thumbs up before he runs down the hall. She shakes her head and smiles as she leads me and Itachi into a room. When we enter, I smile at the sight.
Uchiha Fugaku sits at the table with a baby in one hand and a file folder in another.
"I didn't know you had a brother, Itachi!" I say as I look at the cute baby, he looks a little bit younger than Choji. The baby giggles and tugs at his father's hair. Fugaku's lips twitch as he puts down the file to try to save his hair from the baby.
"Yes," Itachi smiles, this is the largest one I've seen from him. "This is my little brother, Sasuke."
"He's adorable," I say as I look at the baby.
"It's nice to see you outside of the hospital, Kanna-chan," Fugaku says as Mikoto motions for me and Itachi to sit down across from him. I sit down and let out a relieved sigh as Fuwa Fuwa sits in my lap. He's a really heavy cat! "He doesn't let many people hold him."
"Itachi and his friend told me that, too!" I say as I look up from the cat at the clan head. "His friend called me Kanna-hime 'cause I could carry him, does that mean I should call you Fugaku-hime?"
Fugaku stares at me for a moment before he snorts, loudly.
"You may call me Fugaku-ojisan since you're going to be a mini Shisui," he finally says.
The boy who I assume to be Shisui comes back into the room with his arms full. Fugaku raises an eyebrow but doesn't say anything as the boy clumsily sets another place at the table beside Itachi. I immediately feel bad, had I taken his normal place?
"We can switch spots if you want, Fuwa Fuwa," I say to him. The boy flails.
"My name is Shisui!"
"But Fuwa Fuwa fits you! I'd pet your hair if you were closer." The boy's cheeks turn a bright red as he flails again and falls back on his back. I try to cover my mouth, but it doesn't muffle my giggles at his reaction.
I'm so glad I agreed to come here with Itachi.
I hate the academy.
I hate it with a passion.
After we got back from lunch we did some stretches which was nice. It was great, actually! But then the boys were taken back to the training posts to work on target practice while the girls were taken to the courtyard for kunoichi classes.
They're the worst.
Not only is this class the most boring and frustrating thing of the day content wise, but I also have to deal with Itachi's fangirls, as Shisui called them as he walked us back to the academy. They're all glaring at me or whispering to each other.
I've lost track of how many times I've been called tomato head.
There's only one girl being nice to me and she seems almost as done with the kunoichi class as I am. She sits beside me with three puppies crawling around her lap as she picks at blades of grass. I have to fight the urge to squeal whenever one of the puppies does something cute.
Which is like every few seconds.
One of the puppies stumbles over to me in the grass and puts its front paws on my leg, looking up at me expectantly. I look over at the girl who smiles at me, the red fangs on her cheeks moving slightly.
"He doesn't like the fact you smell like a cat now," she whispers to me.
"Well if I cuddle with you then I won't smell like a cat anymore," I whisper at the small puppy. Its tongue hangs out the side of its mouth after it yips and jumps into my arms. The girl and I both giggle at the puppy until we hear someone clear their throat. We both look up to see the sensei at the front of the group glaring at us.
I have to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing. She's trying to teach us about etiquette for noble women. I'm not in a clan and I'm definitely not a noble. There's no way I'm making jonin. Ever. So I'll never have to deal with one of those undercover missions.
Kunoichi classes are stupid. I just want to go throw things like the boys.
The puppy in my lap yips as if he reads my mind and the girl next to me struggles to hide her giggles. We both take turns petting the other two puppies as well so they don't feel left out for the rest of the class.
"Okay, girls. You can go back to your classrooms."
"What, we're not going to do target practice?" I ask the girl next to me. She shakes her head as she stands, holding two of the puppies in her arms.
"No," she says. "It's stupid. Mom lets me practice at the clan training grounds for a bit before we go back home after school."
"So we don't get to do target practice while we're in school?" I ask as I stand with the other puppy in my arms. We start walking back towards the front door of the academy.
"Not until we start doing it as an entire class."
"Are they trying to get us killed?" Why wouldn't they provide this training for everyone during the school day? It immediately puts non-clan kids and girls at a disadvantage. I pause in my steps when I realize it. "They're trying to kick all the non-clan kids and girls out."
"You think?" The girl asks as we walk inside the academy.
"Yeah," I say as I feel my anger build. I wasn't planning on becoming a jonin before, but now… "They're going to regret it," I say to myself.
"I'm Inuzuka Hana and these are the three Haimaru brothers," Hana says. I turn to look at her and she has a feral grin on her face that I'm sure matches my own.
"I'm Kanna, it's nice to meet you."
"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," Hana says as we walk into our classroom. I sit down in my earlier seat next to Itachi as Hana grabs her things from the table behind us and moves them to the seat next to me.
"I couldn't have said it any better, Hana." We grin at each other again and I hear Itachi sigh from my other side.
"Whatever it is, just make sure my father doesn't catch us."
This is going to be so much fun.