Chapter Eleven — Always Staying After a Fall

"I heard you're in the Academy, Kyoko-chan."

Kyoko looked away from Kakashi and Rin's spar to stare up at the man beside her. "Minato-san," she greeted. "Did Obito tell you that?"

Minato grinned, looking at where said student was practicing his kunai drills. "He's very proud of you. Was actually early to practice for once so that he could boast about how smart you are."

She smiled, her chest feeling warm at that. She looked back towards the spar, watching as Kakashi caught Rin in a throw and then moved back to let her regain her bearings. "Did he tell you that I moved up a year?"

Minato made a noise of surprise. He shifted next to her, and when she looked at him again he was sitting down, blinking at her wide wide eyes. "Already?"

"I think Masuyo-sensei wanted me to go to a class where I wasn't bored by the information."

"You were bored?"

Kyoko nodded, only half of her attention on the conversation. She'd forgotten how aggressive Kakashi was in his spars when he was younger. So desperate to prove himself. So afraid he wouldn't be able to. When Rin hit the ground again, Kyoko finally looked up at Minato. "She's a good sensei."

"I'm sure she is." The jonin tilted his head to the side, considering her. "I don't think even Kakashi moved up that quickly. It's only been a few weeks, right?"

"Four, now. I moved up last Friday."

"Kakashi's the youngest to have ever graduated." Minato chuckled. "He'll be upset if you destroy his record."

Kyoko straightened in alarm, eyes widening. "You think so?" she asked, voice cracking. "I don't want to make him upset."

He paused. "I, I was joking." His brow furrowed. "Kakashi will be fine. What you're doing is very impressive, Kyoko-chan."

That . . . probably had seemed like an overreaction to him. She forced a long, slow breath and then a smile. "Thank you."

Mikoto had taken Itachi to feed him, Obito had given in to Shisui's demands to show him how to do a handstand, and Fugaku had retreated to his office to take care of clan duties. So Kyoko took the time alone as the opportunity it was and settled down just around the edge of the house. In a spot where she wouldn't be seen right away by someone looking for her, but where it wouldn't be assumed she was hiding either. She sat down in the grass and leaned back against the engawa.

She dug out the small box she'd packed that morning with three tomatoes taken from the kitchen. It wasn't like anyone was going to miss them. Shisui wouldn't remember they were there, Obito still had two more to use, and Kagami would expect them to be gone anyway by the time he returned. She selected one tomato and set it in front of herself. Then she closed the box.

Kyoko took a deep breath and placed her palm on the tomato, closing her eyes. She'd used this chakra hundreds and hundreds of times. She knew the feeling, she knew the technique, she knew the right way to do it. This body didn't, though, and that was the problem.

She been pressing her iryo-chakra into the tomato, trying to strain it into its most harmless and most useful form, for no more than three seconds before the tomato burst.

She wrinkled her nose in distaste, both for her failure and for the fruit splattered across the ground and her hand. She replaced it with a new tomato and pressed her palm against it, closing her eyes. Time to try again.

"Kyoko-chan!"

Kyoko jumped in alarm. The tomato exploded from a sudden influx of surprised chakra. She stared at it. The green around her hand faded away. Then she twisted around so she could look up at where Mikoto was standing on the engawa, staring at her with wide eyes.

"Kyoko!" Obito yelled, tumbling around the other side of the house with Shisui close behind. "What happened? Are you okay? Oh no! You're bleeding! Obasan—"

"Obito, no, she's not bleeding," Mikoto said, putting an arm out to stop him. Her brow furrowed. "She's fine. Right, Kyoko-chan?"

Kyoko swallowed and wiped the tomato off on her pants. She couldn't manage words so she nodded instead.

The door opened. "Mikoto?" Fugaku called. "What's wrong?"

She turned, looking back at him. "Nothing's wrong. Kyoko-chan, why don't you show him?"

Fugaku frowned, looking from his wife to the girl. "Show me what?"

Kyoko pulled herself to her feet, taking a deep breath. She held out her hand and focused. Green chakra gathered in her palm.

Fugaku's eyes widened just barely and he stepped forward, kneeling down on the edge of the engawa so he could reach her. His fingers slid around her wrist, turning her hand so that he could see better but not actually touching the iryo-chakra. "Incredible," he murmured. His gaze flicked up to meet hers.

She straightened when she realized his sharingan was on. Kyoko squared her shoulders. "Thank you."

"Kyo-chan, that's amazing!" Obito said, lurching forward. "I didn't know you were learning how to be a medic-nin."

"I want to be like Tsunade-sama," she said firmly. "I want to be a medic nin, but I want to fight too."

He grinned. "You should talk to Rin-chan, then! She wants to be like Tsunade-sama to, and she's totally going to do it. Plus, she really likes you. She'd like you talking to her about it."

Kyoko's heart swelled and she smiled. "Really? I'd love to."

"Kyoko-chan," Fugaku called. When she looked at him, he finally released her and rose to feet. He gave her a nod. "Work hard. I'm impressed."

"Thank you. And I will."

Once upon a time, Kyoko had survived a war, survived the Kyuubi, survived ANBU. She had matched Hatake Kakashi's graduation scores with her own. She had studied under one of the most feared kunoichi across all the Hidden Villages. She was by no means unskilled.

But she couldn't get her sharingan down to one tomoe.

Kyoko scowled and told herself that breaking another mirror would only worsen how worried her father was. So instead, she just groaned and leaned her forehead against the cool surface.

Well, if she couldn't lower the number of tomoe then maybe she should just try going the other direction.

She opened her eyes, staring at the sharingan reflected back at her less than an inch away. The tomoe twisted and morphed and spread into a star. The eight points stretched out and sharpened.

And then, for just the briefest moment, the black molded itself into a three-bladed shuriken.

Kyoko jerked back, catching a glimpse of her mangekyo—her mangekyo—in the mirror as she fell. She hit the ground hard and curled in on herself, air catching in her throat. Her eyes ached as she cut off her chakra, and she pressed her hands over her face.

"Kyoko!" Obito called through the door. He knocked loudly. "Are you okay? Did you drop something?"

She bit down on her lip and squeezed her eyes shut. Tears burned a path for themselves down her face. "I'm fine," she called out, voice cracking. "Just, just tripped."

"Are you sure?" he asked, voice rising. "Kyo-chan—"

"I'm fine, Niichan!" She wrapped her arms around her middle and hunched over on herself. "I just fell. That's, that's all."

"Okay," he said slowly. "Be careful."

Kyoko winced. "I will."