Fall has come, flowers are wilting.
It was a mostly normal Monday morning for Inojin, the buzz of the living room T.V was annoying today though. That was unusual as the buzz would, often, give his attention something constant instead of ever-changing. Ino was in the kitchen cooking breakfast, and the home was filled with the smell of something cinnamin-ey and freshly brewed coffee. The smells mixing and contorting was sickening Inojin, he was tired and already frustrated at the day, lovely. Inojin decided to focus his attention outside from his place at the table, he noticed how it looked cooler than normal out, and that some of the leaves were already falling off some trees. The sky was grey, it looked like it might rain, and the birds weren’t flitting around like normal, probably starting to migrate. He wanted to say something but it caught in his throat, making a strained “hhhnnn..” noise. It didn’t happen often that he couldn’t force words out, anymore at least, but when it did it made him frustrated. “What was that sweetie?’’ Ino asked patiently as she came over to the table with freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Inojin tried to look her in the eyes but quickly returned his gaze outside and pointed, trying to signal to her ‘the birds, they’re leaving again’. Ino followed his gaze outside and looked, trying to find what it was her son was trying to say, then noticed something was missing, ”The birds?“ she paused, looking at her son for conformation. ”Uh-huh! Uh-huh!“ Inojin replied happily, she understood! ”What about them sweetheart? Wanna try telling me in words?“ Ino said seeing if Inojin could this morning, she new it could be hard, but it was worth a shot. Inojin deflated a bit, then he started to try to sort through his thoughts and form a sentence, ”Th…Thur, uh,“ he paused, ”Leaving! Leaving again!“ he continued to mutter ‘leaving’ over and over again under his breath, the word felt nice on his lips. ”Yeah, it’s about that time of the year again,’’ Ino smiled at her son, “Good job Inojin,” she ran her hands through Inojin’s, not-put-up-yet, hair. Inojin smiled softly at the comforting touch, though still annoyed for some unexplained reason.
After he had gotten ready for school, Inojin left out the front door, and was greeted by Shikadai and Chou-Chou on the route to school. “Hey! Hey! You think the new kid is gonna be a boy or a girl? Say Shikadai!’’ Chou-Chou had been really excited since yesterday, a student had overheard the teachers making preparations for a new student, and rumors had quickly spread. ”Geez, Chou-Chou, I don’t know? I don’t really care either, as long as they aren’t mean I guess,“ Shikadai drawled still sounding half-asleep, they continued down the path to school and with every passing noise or bright light, Inojin could feel himself becoming more tense and agitated. The two other people walking with him noticed his agitation and decided to stop talking, in an effort to aid in his sensory overload. “Hey, Inojin, you want a hug? Or for us to just walk next to you?” Shikadai asked in a hushed tone, “Walk” came Inojin’s answer. So that’s how they continued the rest of the walk to school, including to their homeroom with Shino-sensei. A few minutes in before class officially started Inojin asked to go to the bathroom. Once he was in the bathroom, safely in a stall, he started grabbing at his hair, tugging and pulling through clenched and overwhelmed eyes. Out of his throat came strained groans and whimpers, he was so frustrated at himself for being so easily overwhelmed this morning, and for the inability to get past certain phrases. Just this morning he had gotten stuck on not one but two words, repeating them over and over again under his breath, and it wasn’t even noon yet! Today was going to be bad and he knew it, today was a day we wanted to cease existing, not to die, but to just disappear into a calm, empty nothingness. He hadn’t noticed he had started to cry, but the burning feeling in his eyes a few minutes after was enough to at least, remind him of class, so he tried his best to regulate himself, breathing in intervals of four, breathe in 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, breathe out for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds and repeat. It took about a minute of that to calm him enough to wash his face, fix his hair and return to class. All in all, he had probably been gone the entirety of 5 minutes, but to him it felt like eternity. Just then the bell rang, signaling the start of the school-day.
“Alright class…’’ Shino said in his monotonous voice once everyone had settled down, “Today we have a new student.” 'Great', Inojin mused ruefully, 'Who's it gonna be this time?' he had seen his fair share of transfers and new students, and honestly, he just didn't like the fact that they came in and he had to learn new social rules again.