Naruto: Hollow Minded

“Ane-san…” A quiet voice came from her doorway, she looked up from her book to see who it was.

It was Konohamaru, the grandson of her adoptive family. She was warned to keep her distance from him by his caretaker Sumi, but here he was, tears in his eyes as he stood in her doorway gripping onto his stuffed bear.

“Konohamaru-sama! What’s wrong?”

He sniffed a few times, hugging his bear tighter, “Th-th-the thunder is loud.” He mumbled.

She paused, Sumi’s words echoing in her mind as she thought for a moment, the crash of thunder making him jump and shake harder.

“Stay in here tonight.” She spoke softly, and he looked up to her, eyes wide as he rushed forward.

She barely has time to move over as he dove into her side, pausing for a moment before she set her book down on the table. She paused for a second, ruffling his hair as he let out a small squeak, eyes wide as he looked up at her.

“Ane-san… When will the thunder stop.” He squeaked out.

“It should be over by morning.” She hummed, head resting on her pillow.

“I hate when it rains!” He grumbled, burying his face into her chest.

“You know… It was raining the day I came here.” She hummed, continuing to mess with his hair.

“R-really?”

“Mhm. It was raining so hard you couldn’t see a meter in front of you.” Her voice was soft as she kept an arm around him as he moved to rest his chin on her chest.

“Well… Then I guess the rain isn’t too bad.” He grumbled, burying himself under the blankets.

He fell asleep near instantly, softly snoring as he used her as a pillow. She wasn’t too far after, the sound of the rain against the roof and occasional rumble of thunder lulling her to sleep.

“He’s missing! Oooh that little harlot! I knew she was no good, I bet she’s working with those filthy Kumo nin.” A shrill voice echoed from down the hallway.

Groggily she scrunched her face, blinking and opening her eyes as she turned to the door.

Badum. Step. Badum. Step. Badum. Step step step. Badum. Step step step step step.

SLAM!

The door flew open, and in the doorway was a scowling woman. Her hair was up in a bun and she wore a calf length dress with an apron. She had a stern face, and at the moment there was a fire in her eyes as she huffed in the doorway.

“What have you done with Konohamaru-sama!”

“I-I haven’t done anything!”

“Oh really? Then where is he!?” She had stomped forwards, grabbing her by the arm as she yanked her from the bed.

As she did so, Konohamaru fell from where he had still been using her as a pillow, landing with a soft ‘oof’ as he rubbed his head and looked up. 

“Sumi-san, what’s going on?” He spoke groggily.

“Ah! Konohamaru-sama! What were you doing in here?”

“I-I couldn’t sleep last night because of the thunder so I came to sleep in here.”

“Ah! What have I told you about coming here? Next time you come to my room if you can’t sleep.” She tutted, hand on his back as she led him down the hall.

“Sorry about that Amaya.” A deep voice spoke as she looked to the doorway.

“It's no problem really, Asuma-san.” She spoke softly, walking over to the dresser in the room.

“Alright. Get ready because after breakfast I’m taking you to school.”

“Okay.” She spoke softly, and the door was closed.

She changed into one of the outfits provided, a pale orange shirt with the Sarutobi clan symbol on the back and black leggings. She made her way downstairs, hovering at the bottom steps before she walked into the dining room. She sat at the table, merely drinking water as she kept her gaze aimed at the table. She barely touched her food, pushing it around her plate before she finally looked up.

“I’m finished. Can we go, Asuma-san?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

“Are ya sure kid, you’ve barely touched your food?” He asked, but she just nodded as she slid out of her chair, “Well alright. Here, I packed a bag for you.” He handed her a dark gray satchel bag, which she quickly put on, her head down as she followed him out the door. 

“Class! Settle down, this is Amaya. She’s starting here for this semester. Please treat her nicely. Have a seat in the back by Sasuke- Sasuke, raise your hand!”

A boy in the back rose his hand lazily, which she quickly made her way to sit by him. There was a hush of whispers in the room as she sat beside him. She quickly took out a notebook, a pencil and an eraser. She sat with her hands in her lap, occasionally taking notes before she returned her hands to her lap.

Soon the lesson was over, the bell ringing for lunch as the classroom quickly emptied. Amaya made her way to get up, only for her and Sasuke to be stopped by the teacher.

“Sasuke-kun, you think you could spend some time catching Amaya up with the lessons?”

“Right now?” He grunted, as the teacher nodded.

“Yes, you do have the best grades in the class after all. Not to mention it would be an opportunity for you to practice more.” The teacher hummed, and he let out a low grumble in response.

“Fine. I’ll go over the lessons with her.” He snapped, sitting back down as he pulled out a notebook.

“Those are all of the shinobi rules.” He let out a soft grunt as she nodded.

“Right! T-thank you. I’m… Sorry the sensei made you teach me.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not. You could… You could just not teach me, don’t worry I can figure it out on my own.” She muttered, turning away from him.

“Tch, whatever.” He huffed in response, and then the bell rang.

The lesson continued, the two of them were silent, almost angry at each other, as the sensei continued to teach. He asked a question, with no volunteers he called on someone randomly, and Sasuke had made an offhand comment making fun of the students answer.

“Sasuke! Would you like to say that answer aloud?” He called through the chatter, and Sasuke tensed up.

“H-he was telling me the answer since the question had confused me sensei.” Amaya spoke softly, but the sensei nodded.

“Alright. Make sure you don’t distract any other students while you help her- alright?” He responded, and Sasuke let out a sigh of relief.

Soon enough class was over, the bell ringing as the students flooded out of the building. Amaya was quicker this time, making sure that the sensei couldn’t catch her this time since she really just wanted to leave. All the people were overwhelming, and she really didn’t want to deal with the grumpy boy she had been sitting next to.

After class the Sasuke boy continued to grumpily teach her, just like the teacher asked. Every day after 30 minutes on the dot he would leave, sometimes without even saying a word. He didn’t want to teach her- getting home to hopefully see his brother was really his only goal.

Amaya noticed his disdain for her, tensing up with every word he spoke. 

“H-hey you know you don’t need to teach me any more.”

“Hm? And why’s that?” He spat at her.

“It’s been a month. I’ll tell the sensei that you were so good at teaching me that I already understand everything.” 

“Fine by me, not like I’m gonna fight to keep teaching you.”

“I’ve gotta get home early today anyways. I’ll tell the Sensei tomorrow during class. Bye Sasuke-san.” She didn’t give him time to respond, disappearing before he could even open his mouth.

He rolled his eyes, about to turn and leave when he noticed the bag on the ground. Her bag. That she left there.

“What an idiot. Hmph. Guess I should return it… After Dinner though.” Sasuke grabbed the bag, slinging it over his shoulder as he left the training area.