A Songbird in A Tiny Cage
“Amaya, pay attention or you’ll burn breakfast.”
“Sorry Sumi-san.” She muttered, quickly turning back to where she was frying eggs and vegetables.
“Honestly, you really are no use. You’re lucky I’m willing to teach you how to survive, otherwise you’d never leave this house- you burden.”
“Yes Sumi-san.” She muttered instinctively, continuing to push the eggs and vegetables around.
“Mornin’ Amaya!” Konohamaru’s voice came from the dining room table.
“Ah Good Morning Konohamaru-san, breakfast should be ready in a second!”
“Yesss! Your eggs taste so good Amaya-san!”
“Only because she learned from the best.” Sumi hummed, taking a plate over to Konohamaru.
Amaya had made a small plate for herself, quickly eating in the kitchen before washing her plate and setting it out to dry. Grabbing her bag she slung it over her shoulder, giving a quick bow.
“I’m heading to school now Sumi-san, thank you for breakfast.” She spoke, quickly turning on her heel and heading out the door.
She jogged away from the house, slowing down as she came to an intersection. She only had to wait a few moments for a familiar black haired boy to pop down from a nearby tree, startling her as she leapt back.
“Sasuke-kun! Seriously, again?” She hissed, pouting as she crossed her arms.
“Hehehe, sorry! You’re just so fun to scare!” He gave a smile, and Amaya uncrossed her arms as she turned to him.
“Fine, but only because I know I’ll get you back one of these days!”
“Oh yeah right, you’re not good at scaring people!”
“Well maybe I’ll learn just to scare you!” She shouted, sticking her tongue out.
“As if!” He teased back, nudging her slightly.
The two talked as they made their way to school, joking about other classmates and hoping the test won’t be too difficult. They slowly made their way into school, sitting at their usual table as they grabbed their supplies for the day, sharing their notes from the last lesson in a hushed whisper as other students started filing in.
‘There were many noteworthy students in the class, making every lesson interesting.’ Amaya thought, a smile making its way on her face as Shikamaru and Choji walked in.
Choji was eating a bag of chips, not faltering as he made his way to the seat just in front of her and Sasuke. Shikamaru followed, dropping into the seat before laying his head on the desk as he always did. He was out in mere seconds, a soft snoring coming from him as he slept.
Next was Ino. She always had a group of girls around her. She was loud, bubbly and charismatic. Everyone loved her. A new girl joined Ino’s group recently, her name was Sakura Haruno. She was shy, but she was pretty and smart too. Of course she’d make friends with Ino, the two were probably the most popular in class. A twinge of jealousy struck Amaya as she watched the group of four sit down across from them. ‘She’s popular, pretty and she’s really smart. I wish I had half of that.’ Amaya thought, turning her head from the group.
Class was close to starting when the last two came in. Naruto Uzamaki and Kiba Inuzuka. They were both out of control fighters who pulled pranks, ran late to each class, and skipped out on after-school discipline. The two of them were almost worse when they collaborated on any of their pranks.
Quickly they took their seats, the snickering coming from them letting the whole class know they had pulled one of their infamous pranks.
The sensei walked in, and he was soaking wet. Immediately he looked at Naruto and Kiba, who both burst out laughing along with the rest of the class.
“Naruto, Kiba. Both of you stay after class.” He spoke bluntly, quickly turning to the chalkboard, “Now, we’ll continue onto our test for the day.”
And the whole class groaned.
“Man class today was rough.” Sasuke groaned, kicking a rock.
“Oh come on, I think it was fun!”
“Yeah, well you didn’t have to deal with Naruto. He was stubborn the whole time. I’m so tired right now.” He huffed, kicking the rock a bit harder.
“Does that mean you don’t want to train today?”
“Wh- No! I still wanna train!”
“Well… Then race you to the compound!” Amaya shouted, breaking into a sprint.
“No fair!”
The two sprinted down the street, ducking and weaving through the crowds of people as they took the familiar path. Amaya leapt in the air as she got to the gate, slapping it with her hand as she turned to Sasuke, who was only a meter behind her.
“You cheated!”
“At running?” She giggled, sticking her tongue out.
“No! We didn’t start at the same time!”
“Then you should start the race first next time.” Amaya nudged him, and he shoved her back.
“I will. Now come on, we’ve got the training area to ourselves and I wanna get started already!”
“Alright, but I want you to teach me how to throw shurikens so well without stabbing yourself.”
“Well duh, I don’t wanna keep treating your wounds.”
“Hey!”
Amaya shouted at him as he broke off into a sprint, the two of them laughing as she chased him all the way to the Uchiha Training Grounds, the best spot to train in all of Konoha. Amaya set her bag down, quickly getting into a fighting position as Sasuke did the same at the other side of the field.
The two quickly locked into a fight, throwing punches at one another, blocking, dodging, planning their next move while continuing to attack. The two of them flew away from each other, Sasuke sliding against the grass as Amaya was pushed back, flipping herself halfway up mid air before springing back on her arms so she could land perfectly on her feet.
“Whew- I think I’m good for the day.” Sasuke heaved, resting his hands on his knees.
“Yeah, me too.” Amaya laughed before collapsing on the ground.
The two lay there on the ground, laughing loudly as they looked up to the sky. The two were enjoying the peaceful quiet, the warm sunlight grazing their skin. It was calm, the perfect day to just relax.
Sasuke was the first to break the silence.
“Hey, I need to finish some of the writing homework… Do you mind staying here while I work on it?”
“Yeah sure! I can work on my own stuff.” She hummed.
Sasuke grabbed his bag, pulling out his notebook as he sat pressed against a nearby tree. He was quick to begin writing, he knew the answers- he just didn’t feel like finishing it while in class. Amaya sat on the other side of the tree. She had found some wild flowers, a smile on her face as her fingers worked to weave the stems with extreme precision.
“These questions are so tedious.” Sasuke huffed, as Amaya gave a soft hum.
“Shoulda done it in class.”
“Yeah, well I didn’t want to do it when I was in class.”
“Hm. Well have this to cheer you up!” She smiled, placing the flower crown atop his head.
“Hey- What’re you-”
“See! Now we match!”
He looked up to see she was wearing a flower crown similar to the one she had placed onto his head, her eyes closed and a bright smile on her face as knelt beside him.
“Y-yeah, whatever.” He replied, puffing out his cheek.