Chapter Fourteen — To Be Stubborn is To Be Able

"I'd like to be your apprentice."

Tsunade looked up from her discussion, already frowning. Her gaze flicked around the restaurant before settling on Kyoko. "What?"

"I'd like to be your apprentice."

Tsunade blinked. She glanced at the man across from her. He looked from Kyoko to her and back, giving a shrug. He motioned to her to answer. Tsunade looked back at Kyoko.

And she started laughing.

"Sorry, kid!" she got out between guffaws. "But no. I don't do students."

"Your kanji are so pretty," Shizune said, leaning far into Kyoko's space to look at her notes.

"Thank you," Kyoko murmured, starting a new line about perception-distorting genjutsu. "I've practiced them a lot."

"I can imagine you couldn't have done that much practice. I mean, you're only four. And babies can't hold a pen."

She glanced up. "I'm five."

Shizune gave her a broad, cheeky grin. "Are you? Your cute, chubby cheeks say four."

"Well, they're wrong."

Shizune giggled at that and then bent to look at the page again. "They're so neat and clean. You don't even flow your lines."

Fuuinjutsu doesn't work with flowed lines, Kyoko didn't say. Instead, she just smiled.

"I'd like to be your apprentice."

Tsunade jerked her head up, eyes wide. Then they narrowed, and her grip on her clipboard tightened. "What?"

Kyoko squared her shoulders and didn't flinch. "I'd like to be your apprentice."

Tsunade didn't say anything for a long time. The hospital remained busy and loud around them. Kyoko didn't move. And then the Sannin snorted out half-laugh. "Listen, I'm busy. I have things to do."

"I know." Kyoko folded her hands behind her back, standing at attention. "I'll try not to take up too much of your time today. But I do want you to be my sensei. I'll work hard, and I won't distract you from your other duties."

Tsunade frowned at her. "No."

"Obito and Shisui found some people for Ninja. Are you sure you don't want to play with them?"

Kyoko shook her head, not looking up at him. She kept all of her attention on Itachi. She was holding him carefully, stabilizing him on his feet while he stared up at her with a mostly-toothless smile. "No thank you. I'm trying to teach Itachi-chan how to stand."

"I can see that. He's just barely old enough. You didn't stand until you were almost nine months, you know."

"So he has three months to beat me," she said. "He'll get there."

Itachi gurgled and swayed forward. Kyoko smiled and lowered him down onto his front. "Careful. Keep yourself up." She moved his arms so he was propped up on his elbows. "Just like that." She finally looked up at Kagami. "He's cute."

Kagami nodded and reached out, dropping his hand on the top of her head. "I don't think I've ever seen a baby that wasn't cute. You were too when you were a baby."

Kyoko pouted. "Are you saying I'm not cute now?"

He laughed. "Of course not. You're the cutest."

She looked back down and smiled. "Itachi's cuter."

"I'd like to be your apprentice."

"No."

"That's amazing, Kyoko-chan," Rin said, watching the green chakra. "I couldn't do anything with iryo-chakra until last year."

"I've practiced," Kyoko said, pulling her hands back from the orange she'd been demonstrating on.

Kakashi frowned at it. "Is it safe to eat?"

Kyoko looked up at him. It was easier than it had been before, but her gut still twisted when he stared back at her without any real recognition. "Yes. It's safe."

"Good." He picked it up and started peeling it.

"Hey, Bakashi! That's from my lunch!" Obito yelled, diving for the fruit.

Both girls were pulled back as the two boys immediately dissolved into a wrestling match. Kyoko leaned her head back to see Minato. He offered up a smile. "Very impressive, Kyoko-chan."

"I'd like to be your apprentice."

"No."

Kyoko woke up from the dream that she was dying in to a reality where she'd already done so. She laid there for a moment, reminding herself that she was alive. Then she got up and got dressed. The clock beside her bed said it was half past four, and she didn't have the Academy for a few hours. There was no way she would be sleeping again.

She settled at the kitchen table with a plate of leftover onigiri and one of her father's books on katon. She had made it through ten pages in the book and thirteen in her notes when she heard a door. Kyoko looked up and smiled. "Shisui," she said, careful to keep her voice low. "Did I wake you up?"

He rubbed his eyes and squinted at her. "Kyoko? Um . . . . I'm thirsty."

She nodded and got up from her seat, moving to get him a glass of water. Then she walked to where he was still standing in his doorway. "Here," she murmured, pressing the cup into his hands. "Drink this."

"Okay. Thanks." He peered past her at the table. "What are you doing?"

"Studying," she said, ruffling his hair. "Get some sleep, okay? I love you."

"I'd like to be your apprentice."

Tsunade slammed down the pen she was writing with so hard that it snapped, spilling ink all over her fist. "What is your problem?" she demanded, staring at the girl that had interrupted her work.

Kyoko steeled herself. "I'd like to be your apprentice."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed and she looked her up and down. "No."

Kyoko huffed, gritting her teeth. She nodded. Asking repeatedly had worked with her father, but it looked like she might need to introduce a backup plan to deal with the Sannin. Said plan was simple.

Kyoko flicked out a kunai, slashed it across her thumb, and then stitched the wound back together with iryo-ninjutsu.

Tsunade straightened. "Huh," she said, staring at the blood at the tip of Kyoko's thumb. She reached out and grabbed her wrist, turning it so she could see better. The action smeared ink across her skin. Then she caught Kyoko's stare. "There are a lot of other iryo-nin, even just in your clan. Mikoto-hime herself is an incredible medic-nin. She'd probably say yes if a stubbon relative went to bother her for training."

"I want to be an iryo-nin," Kyoko said. "And a combative shinobi. She might have been able to do that for me once before, but she has a baby now. You're the only one that can teach me how to master both."

Tsunade let her go and sat back to study her. She tilted her head to the side. "No."