Academy Arc: Underneath
"Gai-san is in your class?" His family sounded just like an English word that suited the boy a little too well, so Yuina decided to call the boy his given name if only not to be reminded of the kid's exhausting regimen every time she spoke his name. Enthusiasm was good, but somehow it was like watching an advert. If it had been anyone else, she would have assumed it was fake.
"He was on the waitlist and got in. The first thing he did was claim me as his rival and charged at me." Kakashi recounted the story as they walked towards the Academy.
"Ah." Yuina didn't know what to say to that.
"I won." Kakashi didn't want anyone, especially Yuina, to think he had gotten weak. It was bad enough their sensei was making them start from the bottom up, meaning a lot of katas and hand seals. In the few weeks he'd been attending their class had only spared once and it was only a lesson to explain why learning kata was so important. He'd rather spend time with someone who entertained and challenged him that remaining bored. It didn't matter that he won eighty percent of the time, at least his time with Yuina was interesting.
He had gotten a few praises from his teacher and classmates, but he didn't understand. He didn't accomplish anything worthy of praise. They felt like strings of empty words. He didn't achieve anything brilliant and his actions were basic expectations. It was a bigger problem that others were so far behind.
Yuina seemed a little distracted. "I mean it. I won." Kakashi couldn't imagine losing to someone like Gai.
"I believe you."
"Then what is it?"
"I was thinking…"
Kakashi stopped and moved his right foot back to pivot face in the direction Yuina stopped. He didn't like where this was going. If it was something interesting, she probably would have said it by now. Her hesitation was a sign that he would likely hate whatever she had to say.
"We should eat lunch separately for a bit."
His world tilted. It was worse than he could have imagined. Seriously. No. He was bored enough already.
"You should use that time to talk to the others in your class. Make some friends."
Yuina's words mimicked those of Sakumo's. He didn't want to know that she agreed with him. He was certain she was on his side. She had been as unenthusiastic as him, so why would she change her opinions now? Was there someone in her class she wanted to spend time with? Was this her way of blowing him off? He bet no one in her class could offer anything of value.
His chest throbbed. "You're kidding."
"Let's try it for a few weeks." Yuina knew a few days wasn't enough. Even now she had doubts that a few weeks would be enough to encourage Kakashi to interact with the other, but she could be hopeful.
She didn't know how close people could become when there were power struggles, threats of loss, threats of betrayal, and all the stuff, but she hadn't heard any disaster death stories about the academy. Even if it was just as acquaintances, even just temporary, Yuina wanted Kakashi to connect with people. The world was cruel, but she wanted him to have a lot of experiences. To build bonds. To feel happiness. That meant pushing him to expand his world in one of the few ways she knew how.
"If you want to talk to someone, do it in your free time. Lunch is our time."
Yuina raised one hand, her thumb near her chest, and her fingers pointed upwards. A gesture she made to signify her half-hearted apologies. She ran on ahead before Kakashi could protest further.
Yuina took a deep breath to compose her rattled innards. Lunch would be miserable without Kakashi. She wasn't sure whether she would find somewhere for herself or try to eat with someone else. No, she would have to be with others to prevent the chance of Kakashi hunting her down, even if the idea sounded excruciatingly boring.
"Aha!" She hadn't reached her favourite spot yet when Kichiro came running into the room shouting. He leaned over the desk to brush Hyuga Nao's fringe up with his entire hand. Aside from an invasion of personal space, Yuina couldn't be certain Kichiro's hands were clean. "I knew it! He lied to me!" Kichiro removed his hand.
Nao dragged her fingers through her bangs, but otherwise acted as if the events didn't just happen.
"Who lied about what?" Kurama Goro tilted his head. He was more than happy getting into everyone's business.
"This guy I know said all the Hyuga have markings on their forehead. I said no way because I would have noticed if Nao-chan had one," said Kiricho excitedly, as if he had made a discovery deserving of a Nobel Prize.
Morino Ibiki stared on with rapt attention.
Yamanaka Miruku, who had walked in at the beginning of Kichiro's shouts, elbowed the bow, wrapped an arm around his head and dragged him off.
It wasn't really a secret, but it wasn't something most felt comfortable gossiping about. It was information about an influential clan's hidden technique, after all. She could never imagine wanting to cause harm to her family, but since it was only used on clan members, there had never been room to complain. The day someone complained would be the day clans fight over every family jutsu. No one wanted to open that can of worms. It was another reminder that it wasn't safe even within Konoha's walls.
It was easy to pick out who in the class was the in-the-know and who was still clueless. Clan history could be its own subject. There was so much information. She couldn't fault anyone for not knowing wasn't the problem. Kichiro showed no tact, as always.
Sato entered, signaling the start of class.
Hand seals.
Fingers. People had ten of them and the number of bones meant it was possible to manipulate them in various forms in a condensed manner. It was the easiest and most effective way to concentrate chakra to manipulate.
It was something others discovered long before her, otherwise it wouldn't be so widespread.
Class was a good time to observe others. It gave her a larger sample size for her theories. She needed to revisit her thoughts and compare them to her previous assumptions.
She needed practice, but was rote memorization for muscle memory. Her fingers had plenty of practice, so Yuina focused on increasing speed while maintaining accuracy. It required her attention, but not so much that she couldn't let her thoughts wander a bit.
Yuina learned the hard way the importance of practice when she learned to play the piano in her teens. It didn't matter how well she understood the sheet music, she could never skip practice. Learning chords and scales were crucial to development and playing pieces. Speed didn't matter if she played the wrong notes.
Effort varied throughout the class. Some slacked off. Others slowly went through the motions. Others were forming competitions between themselves.
Yuina didn't blame them. It was a boring, repetitive task that also had to be practiced at home. She didn't want to add more work to do at home when she had good and designated time to practice in class, and it wasn't like people didn't expect others to know hand seals. They were fundamental, so there was no point in trying to conceal her knowledge of them.
She thought she would be happier when the repetition ended, but their next lesson was a new one. She was further confused when the class was divided by gender. Girls were to join the girls from the other first year class for ikebana.
There was plenty she wished she could say about the arrangements. First, why? What was learning flower arrangements meant to accomplish? Second, why just the girls? If there were sexist reasonings, she believed the academy should account for the transformation jutsu. Third… No, that was all. Why? Just why? Sure, there was some kind of cultural significance to nature or something, but what did that have to do with being a ninja?
Yuina wished they could talk about flower properties if she was forced to take a class on flowers. At least that would be interesting. It wasn't something she ever put much thought into with synthetic and concentrated materials widely available, but that likely was no longer the case.
She followed the group of students into another section of the building. Inside there were various flowers. Plenty of each round table set up. The flowers were identical at each table, so she sat in the closest available seat without thought of who she may have to sit with. It didn't matter.
"They're so pretty." The girl with her hair tied up in a high ponytail approached the table with enthusiasm. She reached for a pink flower, held it up to her nose and took a long whiff. "I'm Mai."
"I'm Rin."
Yuina didn't know them, so they must have been from the other class.
"I'm Kurenai." The girl had quickly become friends with Asuma. They were frequently together. Kurenai looked lost without someone to stick to. Choose a few and stick to them – an idea she could get behind.
"Mayumi here! What's it like in the other class?"
Yuina was grateful for the question as she had a dilemma. They introduced themselves by their given name, but she had been calling everyone by their family names. She could call Morikawa by Mayumi and Yuhi by Kurenai, but then she'd be calling her classmates by their family names while calling strangers by their given name. She hadn't spoken much to either, but she knew that would be a grand social faux pas. There were a few in her class without a known family name, but she had avoided that conflict by not talking to them or about them. There had been one close call with Jun, but she narrowly avoided it. The switch could come across as jarring. She would need to change how she addressed everyone in the class if this was how it was going to be.
Urg. Now she was questioning whether the class was an infiltration class under the guise of flower arranging. It set the mood for chatting. A perfect opportunity to test themselves and try to get others to leak personal information. It made more sense to Yuina than having an ikebana class, but the lack of an initial lesson to learn some offered some doubt when every other class had been overt. It also didn't explain the gender divide, but if she squinted, she could reason that since it didn't rely on physical strength, older, old-fashioned shinobi in key roles could consider it more of a woman's role. Maybe they were meant to know flowers was some form of code, flower language and all that, and she simply didn't know because her mom was dead.
Yuina would play along until she could arrive at her answers.
"Hatake Yuina." People could call her whatever they wanted.
"Hatake? Do you have close ties to Kakashi?" asked Mai.
See?! Mai was digging for information. Why else would anyone ask about Kakashi as an icebreaker? She knew Kakashi had been keeping to himself, and this was a perfect question to dig into her relations.
"He's my brother." It was common information. "Do you have a favourite flower, Mai-san?" Yuina switched the topic from herself. Mai was happy to answer.
Chatter continued as they made efforts to make their own flower arrangements. Yuina's was certainly the worst.
"It helps if you choose a flower for a centerpiece," said Rin. She offered a demonstration which Yuina accepted. Rin shuffled a few flowers around. It still wasn't great, but it was eons better than Yuina's composition.
"You're good at this," said Kurenai.
"I know!" said Mai after she placed in another flower in her vase. "If you could be a flower, what would it be?"
Symbolism? Yuina knew nothing about flower symbolism. Was she supposed to?
"I like thyme." Kurenai held up a stem with many small white-purple flowers bloomed in bunches.
Kurenai said it but Yuina could see her eyes drift to a red flower.
"I choose peonies." Rin pointed to the pink flower. "For love and happiness."
"Oh! Who's that love for?" Mai early looked to her classmate.
Rin's cheeks faintly tinged pink. "I mean love for life, friends, and family."
"Boring."
"What about you, Yuina-chan?" asked Rin.
Yuina could either admit she knew nothing about flowers or pick a random flower and hope they interpret it on her behalf.
Now what looked like the least incriminating flower.
"This one." Yuina pointed to a white flower. Admitting to Sakumo had helped her face her shortcomings. She wasn't so sure she wanted her classmates to see that side of her.
Um? Did she choose something bad?
"Mayumi! Your turn!" Rin cut off Mai.
"There's too many. Camillas? No, lilies. No, lotuses." Mayumi was unable to choose one. Mai enjoyed Mayumi's enthusiasm.
Yuina was relieved when the class ended.
They were relieved for lunch, which meant freedom! Yuina's excitement was short-lived when she remembered her words to Kakashi that morning. Her mood soured.
Yuina headed towards the class with the rest to retrieve her lunch when she realized Nao was ahead of her. Right. There was that whole morning fiasco.
Yuina tapped Nao's shoulder. "I know this is late, but are you okay?" Nao blinked but didn't speak. "About this morning? Kichiro wasn't exactly tactful.
Yuina stayed in the back with Hyuga. "Are you okay? Kichiro wasn't exactly tactful this morning?"
"It's fine."
It really wasn't. Those of the Hyuga clan were controlling hypocrites like most people. If they were so worried about their eyes, then why was the Main Branch exempted? If such drastic actions could be taken, it should be all-or-none, though it would always inevitably lead to problems with newer generations who didn't consent. Maybe that was the true reason for obedience. There had to be problems and gaps when deciding which heir to bind each generation towards. It brought in the validity as to why it was needed at all.
Nao really didn't seem bothered. She looked bored by the topic.
Perhaps they were more similar than Yuina wanted to admit. How could she be mad at complacency when she was the same?
Whether Nao didn't care or whether it was a mask didn't matter. It was her reality. She needed to decide how to live with such knowledge.
"Okay." Yuina accepted Nao's admission without pressing on. "Can I have lunch with you?"
"You're not eating with your brother?"
"No."
"And you want to eat with me?"
Yuina didn't know why that was so surprising. Nao spent both a lot of time with different people, jumping group to group, and by herself. It should have been easy enough for Yuina to stick herself into whatever group that way.
"But why?"
Was it that surprising that she wasn't eating lunch with Kakashi? Yes, she always ate with Kakashi. Yes, she had turned down invites from her peers before. Okay, Yuina would have been skeptical too if she had been someone else looking on.
"Does there have to be a reason?" The academy may have kids from a bunch of influential families, but that didn't make lunch itself a formal meeting. Yuina wouldn't be able to speak carelessly, but it differed from coming together for a planned itinerary.
"No, there doesn't."
Huh? That may have been the first time Yuina had seen Nao smile for so long. Nao's smiles were usually short-lived, like a flicker of a switch, but now it was like a lingering warmth of a fire in the middle of a cold snowy winter.