new friend
The thing is, their routines have to change. Reading too much, too quickly draws attention. So they’ve taken to borrowing books. Shared between the two of them, so people don’t get suspicious when a kid can read so fast.
It’s mostly Ann who reads those things. Ayaka likes studying, but her four years old brain could never actually focus on the task. So, Ann reads and retells them to Ayaka.
A well working system, if Ayaka has anything to say about it.
It’s an hour or two at the library, carefully selecting books and letting wandering eyes snatch up any chakra related scrolls. Afterward, they take a book each home, rinse and repeat the next day.
They read by the sunlight, wandering the village’s roads and forests.
Tall trees and short bushes, low meadows and high branches. Life flows within those plants.
Ayaka had never actually bothered with sensing them, before. But now they present themselves in her mind, glowing steadily, but slightly different. They aren’t that obvious, for one. They blend into the surroundings for another.
In fact, not just trees. Plants, rocks, the earth… where there has been a simple 2d-ish map of glow in her mind there is now a 3D rendering of the world, running in glowing lines.
It’s too much, too detailed, too unnatural-
Ayaka buries her nose into her twin’s shoulder, pushing her body flush against hers. Breathe in and out. Let the calm current under those skin calm her mind, blur her sight.
Ann smells faintly like milk and freshly baked bread, with a hint of tea.
It’s a nice, easy scent.
Ayaka is drifting, but that’s fine. She has an anchor already.
With the change in schedule, they wander so much more often.
Ann still doesn’t exercise much, but that’s fine. She gets this slight cough every time. A slow walk is enough. Ayaka worries, but what can she do? The orphanage isn’t going to help. They are barely able to care as is.
They meet another little girl on the way.
They settle down on the river side, the Naka river, far far downstream. There is already someone there, underneath the shade.
Ayaka wants to turn around and go, but Ann stays.
Ann walks toward the shade and plops down, near the other girl but not enough to touch. It’s not… unfamiliar, the way Ann acts with the girl. Like approaching a wounded animal. Maybe that’s it.
But there was a glint in her twin’s eye, interest abounded there. And Ayaka -
Ayaka is jealous.
Ann is rarely ever interested by anyone, and anything. Sure, Ann is well loved and well known, no doubt about it.
But for her to actively approach someone new?
That’s Ayaka’s job.
They have a system, where Ayaka is the first defense, charming people left and right, but keeping them at arm’s length. Ann is introduced to only those who will prove to be useful, those who can be loyal and unflinching.
Not that Ann can’t judge that herself. She’s more than capable, but it takes too much energy for her to actually entertain the thoughts. Ayaka has enough to socialize and more.
This though. This is something new, unprecedented.
Ayaka doesn’t comment. She turns around and runs along the river, letting her feet - bare, the sandals kicked off in the shade - feel the trickling water between gravels and stones, soft moss cottoning the noises. This isn’t something she can interfere, intervene in.
Ann acts like this girl is familiar, an old wound festered and scarred over, well beloved but still painful in aches and rains.
Ayaka runs, and pretends she isn’t running away from the truth.
(She isn’t the only one her twin loves like that. She is no longer the only gem, the only star in Ann’s eyes. And it hurts-)
Ann turns her books, no words spoken.
Ann doesn’t need words to lure someone to her side.
Kanae was is a special, special girl.
She was born quiet, but her lungs never failed her. Her voice screams to the world her feelings.
Kanae is a charismatic one, pulling people in with her reckless grin and carelessly pure mind, making others trust her.
Kanae was born knowing.
Not knowledgeable, really. Kanae is a genius, prodigy with a mind of her own, but she is still a child.
She runs faster, understands quicker, grasps concepts with an ease few carry, connects dots and information on the run. She is smart, clever, shrewd. Take your pick of the word.
She simply knows. There’s someone, something, waiting for her out there. A sense of antique surrounds what was supposed to be a young child. Wisdom beyond her years and empathy above most. Apathy is a staple in her life, somehow.
Kanae was born into the Uchiha, with a brother named Obito. 6 years between the two siblings.
Didn’t stop Kanae from loving her older brother.
Mother died birthing Kanae. They stayed with Uzume-oba-san, an older kunoichi who their mother knew.
Kanae was fine. They had each other, her and Obito.
Her brother was clumsy. Doting, but clumsy and sometimes too good for this village. People call him all these names, and the clan considers him an outcast, but Obito never wavered and just kept on helping. He was optimistic and strong and prideful and easy to anger, but he was hers so it’s fine.
Kanae lived and laughed with her brother, following him around whenever she could. He was a sun, like she was a star-moon. Two lights that combine and glow even brighter, never really overshadowing one another.
Kanae loved her brother.
And then he died, and the clan is in an uproar, and there’s rumors of eye-stealing going around like it isn’t a taboo in their clan, and Kanae just wanted to grieve, was it so hard?
Kanae ran to the river.
And - well. She’s here now. Been staying here, looking out to the running water since the morning. Her tears have dried, and the corner of her eyes is terribly itchy and red, but Kanae doesn’t want to go home yet.
She feels too empty to go back.
So filled to the brim with apathy that she couldn’t face Uzume-baa-san.
At least this part of the river is always quiet. There’s no one to see her splotched face, or the sniffles she can’t stifle.
Until those two brats came. Kanae saw them from the corner of her eye.
They look - well, they’re definitely not Uchiha. One of them has red hair, and the other is too… calm to be an Uchiha. She would know. Uchiha always feel just that shade of anger in their chakra, like the fire they wield so well.
But she doesn’t want them to be here. This is her place to grieve. Can’t the world be quiet for a while?
But it is quiet. Kanae notes that even after a while, there’s not much sound, just the wind rustling the leaves and… pages turning.
Oh. The black hair girl sat down near her.
Kanae wants to stand up and shout at her to go away, to leave her alone, ask if she can’t see she’s grieving-
But she doesn’t do any of that.
The girl is quiet. She’s calm. There’s a… softness in her, so hard to find in the compound. The girl’s companion has already gone to play, running along the riverbed.
There’s an enormous book in the girl’s lap, lithe fingers turning the page every now and then, the sound sudden, but not unwelcome in the cacophony that is nature.
Before long, Kanae realizes she’s staring. She can’t get herself to care, really. It’s rude. It’s going against all that she’s doing right now. But… Kanae wants sounds. Want something to keep her from screaming, from crying again. Want a distraction.
She opens her mouth, words coming out in raspy breaths, almost too soft to be heard. “What… are you re-ading?”
Her tongue is stiff, and her slightly cracked lips don’t help at all.
The other girl turns her head slightly, and Kanae finds herself staring into green green eyes. Like the leaves of spring, the first bloom of the day, and like the forest near the Naka. Beautiful. Kanae sucks in a breath through her nose and sniffles. She can’t help it, really.
This girl is like a mirror. Clear dove eyes, innocent but tired. The honesty shines bright in her, somehow. Kanae is sure she isn’t as naive as she looks. Her lips pull into a smile, the corner of her eyes crinkle. The little beauty mark beneath her left eye is like a small tear, sad but beautiful.
“Ah. A comprehension of basic bukijutsu theory, written by… Akiya Minatoru.”
Oh. Kanae knows that one. Had studied it with Aniki until she and him both had a fundamental understanding of it. But this girl is small. Much smaller than her, with what looks like malnutrition. How did she start on such a book?
“That’s… complex. Many calculations.”
The smile on the girl’s face widens. Cheeky, somehow.
“I know calculating.”
Ah. Kanae likes this one already.