Chapter 9
"It's a necessary precaution. Do you know what to expect?"
"Pain? A mark on my tongue? Yeah, we studied Curse Marks in class."
Headmaster Iwa looked a little taken aback, which gave Rei a small sense of satisfaction; evidently he had only asked out of courtesy. He hadn't really expected her to know anything. He muttered something to himself about double-checking the curriculum and motioned for Rei to sit in the foreboding-looking chair in the center of the room.
She crossed her arms and looked at him with eyebrows raised.
Niko Sensei made to put a hand on her shoulder, but she took a rapid half-step away, keeping herself out of easy reach. He may have explained himself, and Rei accepted that explanation, but she wasn't about to let him touch her. He drew his fingers back into a fist awkwardly. Another thing that gave Rei a little bit of satisfaction.
"So, this room is used primarily for Sealings," Mangetsu said, and Rei looked around skeptically. It was a simple concrete room just below ground level, and its only feature to speak of was an archaic reclining chair-shaped stone. Four manacles were embedded where arms and legs would rest.
"And you want me to sit on that."
Mangetsu offered her another of the easy smiles that Rei was quickly learning to associate with him. "If I could do it, I'm sure a strong, independent girl like yourself will have no trouble."
Quirking her lips to the side, Rei tried to mask her unease. She'd been running the possibilities over in her mind. Either these three were telling the truth, or they were lying. If they were truthful, then this procedure would ensure her entrance into a secret foundation of Shinobi, a foundation bent on changing the Mist. If they were lying, she would probably be turned over to the Mizukage as a defector. If she refused to play along, then she'd have to return to the B girls' barracks, to grow up with her classmates and have her emotions smothered. She took a hard look at each of the men before her. It was the first time any adult had made her feel a… lack of danger. She didn't feel safe or relaxed, but she felt like she could possibly turn her back on them without worrying if they'd throw a blade at her. That alone made her decision easy.
There was only one possibility that led to a future worth living.
The ritual was short and surprisingly devoid of pain, though Rei had to admit that she was surprised by the flashing lights that erupted from her mouth. When she was released from the manacles, Niko Sensei provided a folding mirror from his pocket for her to look into. On the surface, everything was about the same. She still had drab dark hair, eyes the color of mud, and a face that was too thin. Otherwise, a line of symbols that she had no familiarity with had been written in blood across her brow and under her chin. And when she opened her mouth, the jagged black lines of the Seal were just visible on the very back of her tongue.
She smacked her lips, contemplating the odd feeling in her throat. "Tastes like I've been chewing on a kunai."
"It'll fade," Headmaster Iwa said as he bandaged his hand.
Mangetsu was brandishing a dingy rag, wiping up the stray drops of blood from the stained stone chair. "Yeah, but until then, food isn't going to be very appealing."
"I'm used to that," Rei said, accepting the same gross rag from Mangetsu to rub the markings from her face.
"Well, now you can get un-used to it." Headmaster Iwa held out his uninjured hand, offering it to Rei with a kind smile. "Congratulations, Reimi Taira. You are officially a graduate of the Academy of the Village Hidden in the Mist."
Rei only stared at his palm for a second before meeting it. "Why?"
"Because we can't send you back to the barracks," Niko Sensei said. He was leaning against the stone wall, one foot propped up behind him, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. "We can't risk it. The longer you stay there, in what is basically the public eye, the greater the chance of the nature of your chakra being discovered."
"So you're being promoted." Headmaster Iwa released Rei's hand and reached into his back pocket, handing her a standard Mist headband. The metal plate was shiny and untarnished, the Mist's symbols were engraved boldly enough for enemy Shinobi to see from a distance.
Her fingers brushed over the plate and the soft black band it was set in. "I don't feel like I earned it."
The headmaster sat slowly down on the stone chair, resting his hands on his knees. He looked at Rei straight on instead of from above. "The graduation exam is in six weeks. It will consist of a one-on-one battle between students, and whichever students are able to fully incapacitate their opponents will graduate. The others will be given the choice to drop out or re-enter in Academy courses for another year. You passed that test today, and by choosing to join us, you've revealed that you have a strong will to survive. The Mist needs that desperately."
Rei wanted so badly for this to be real, but she was sure that the thundering of her heart was audible to everyone else in the room. If they were playing her, they were doing a marvelous job. "Come on," Niko Sensei said, motioning toward the door. "I'll show you to your apartment."
"What?"
"Well, where did you think you'd stay?" Mangetsu asked. "You think we'd toss our new recruit into the streets?"
Rei clamped her mouth shut. Her initial prediction had been that she'd be sent back to the orphanage, which was only slightly more appealing than the barracks. But the idea of sleeping on the streets again hadn't been far from her mind, either. "I don't know," she muttered, eyes down.
This time, when Niko Sensei set a hand on her shoulder, she didn't flinch. It was strong, steady. "We take care of our own, Rei."
Headmaster Iwa and Mangetsu followed them out of the Sealing chamber and into the weak remnants of daylight. The rain was gone, and Rei savored the damp smell of earth. This was the start of a new era. She was officially a Genin, and she was about to do something big with her life.
"We'll meet you in the morning," the headmaster said, the skin by his eyes crinkling with his smile. "You need to be introduced to your new squad mates. Congratulations again, Reimi!" He offered his hand for her to shake again, and she did so quickly.
When Niko Sensei touched her this time, her skin crawled. "Don't look around," he whispered in the absolute quietest voice possible. His arm had snaked around the back of her shoulders, gripping her far bicep with a shockingly stern strength. Headmaster Iwa and Mangetsu were chatting loudly behind them, throwing out phrases like "exceptional" and "Genin" and "graduation."
Someone had to be watching them.
Zane Sensei was leaning against the rain-darkened walls of the cafeteria, hands in his pockets, nonchalant. Niko Sensei drew in a deep breath, his fingers tightening further against her arm, and murmured, "Put on a good show." His lips were so close to her ear that she could feel his skin brushing hers, and she had to consciously stop herself from yanking away.
"What's that you have there?" Zane Sensei asked, pushing away from the wall and approaching with a jaunty stride.
The pressure on Rei's arm was suddenly gone. "Just what's mine," Niko Sensei said easily, smiling.
Zane Sensei actually laughed. "Not you, man. Her."
Rei had forgotten that her headband was clenched in her fist, and she thrust it toward Zane Sensei with all the revulsion she could muster. He took it from her, ignoring her scrunched face. "So you made Genin six weeks early. Really not surprised after that performance. We need all the Shinobi in the field that we can get."
He handed it back to her. "What a shame." He turned his eyes back to Niko Sensei. "Your little toy is leaving the very night that you get back. I can't wait to hear the story of where you've been."
"You won't." Niko Sensei's voice had gone from easy and smooth to absolute granite. "The file is confidential under orders from Lord Fourth."
"Sure." Zane Sensei's eyebrows went up with great exaggeration, like he'd never heard anything more ridiculous. "I bet Lord Fourth recruits you for all his sensitive missions."
"Me more than you." That easy tone was back, and Niko Sensei punched Zane Sensei's arm lightly. "See you in the barracks."
"Yeah, now that you'll have no distractions, I can spend a little more time with mine."
Rei genuinely hadn't noticed whether Zane Sensei had taken another girl, and the combination of rage and absolute despair pushed her face into an epic combination of expressions, she was sure. He didn't even spare her a glance as he turned and headed back for the cafeteria.
Niko Sensei grabbed her arm and steered her in the opposite direction, toward the civilian quarters. "Let go," she growled, ripping her arm from him and taking a solid four steps to the side.
"I'm never going to get back in your good graces, am I?"
"Not likely." She kept several feet between herself and her sensei as she followed him down the street, keeping a watchful eye on literally everything. This was her first time in this part of the village.
Rei's apprehension increased with every minute as the distant sun sank below the misty horizon. Being out after dark was dangerous for children. She took a few steps closer to Niko Sensei, so she could use his body as a shield, if the need arose.
"Alright, Rei." Niko Sensei pointed at a small, shabby building on the left, and Rei's chest tightened. "That one's it. Let me show you around." The steps wound around the outside of the building, and Rei noted that the handrails were rusty and corroded, and sections of it were missing completely. "Watch your step," Niko Sensei cautioned, and Rei crouched to leap across a two-foot expanse in the rickety wooden stairs. "Not that a Genin would fall," he added with a kind smile.
Whatever. He wasn't going to win her over now.
They stopped on the third floor, and Rei noticed immediately that the door swung open easily when Niko Sensei applied a little pressure, without a key. The dilapidated hallway was lit with a single free-swinging bulb, and two doors on each side boasted that there were already people living here.
Niko Sensei stopped at the first door on the left. "This one's yours." He pulled a dingy silver key from a pocket on his vest and fit it in the keyhole, though not without a bit of a struggle.
It was as if a pin pricked Rei's spine when she heard the first creaking of the wooden door.
"I know it's in the low-rent district and the neighbors aren't the best, but you'll won't be here all that often, so…"
Niko Sensei was babbling in the background, but Rei didn't hear a word. It was a studio apartment, all basically one room, and she stepped through the door. The walls were covered in what had once been some kind of floral paper, but which was now yellowed and peeling. Cobwebs hung in all the corners, and the small kitchenette looked to be at least fifty years old. The bathroom consisted of a sink, toilet, and a showerhead with a drain set in the floor. The concrete floor was bare and smudged, and the mattress against the far wall was set on the floor and covered with a thin grey blanket. Dust particles danced in the air, and the stale smell of stagnant air assaulted Rei's nose.
"It's mine?"
Niko Sensei had been mid-sentence, but he stopped and tucked his hands in his pockets. "It's yours. And you'll be getting an allowance as well to help you sustain life on your own." The corner of his mouth quirked up. "No more cafeteria food for you." Rei's chest tightened beyond what she knew how to handle, and she blinked so quickly that she might as well have just kept her eyes closed. "It's okay," Niko Sensei said, his voice low, soothing. "They did it for me, too, a long time ago. I know how you're feeling, and I'll leave you to get acquainted with your new place. Meet me by the Academy at eight in the morning."
He set the worn key in her hand wordlessly, closing her fingers over it, and let himself out, shutting the door securely behind him. Rei's instincts kicked in then and she turned to the door, throwing the deadbolt immediately and wishing she had a chair or something to brace against the knob.
But when she looked back at the room, at her new home, she let the tears come. She wanted to jump up and sing – if it wasn't after dark in a strange building and if she knew how to sing.
There were so many things she could do to make this apartment more to her liking, but for now, she didn't care. It was safe, and it was hers. She didn't care that there were no curtains on the windows and that the sink made a weird noise every few minutes and that bugs flitted about the ceiling light. She didn't care that the bed was uncomfortable or that the blanket was too thin.
For the first time in her life, she had a home.