New Friends
“...eko”
…She should wake up, right?...
“...Chieko”
…The teacher will get mad at her...
“Watanabe Chieko!”
“Yes?” her nonchalant answer makes the teacher’s face turn into an unnaturally angry red.
“It's the third time this week, Chieko” ….Right...
“... I'm sorry,” it's not as if she falls asleep on purpose. She's truly tired. Since she decided to confront her feelings and memories, nightmares are more common than before. It has been difficult. The healthy thing to do would be to talk about it with someone, anyone, but...well... she's been avoiding it. Chieko told her parents the names of the people in her drawings. They know that Shisui, Itachi, and Sasuke were somehow part of her life and that she loves them. Still, she wasn't able to say much more… At least she isn't avoiding their memories anymore, the two drawings are now framed and placed on her nightstand.
The teacher gives her a disappointed look and continues with class. The lesson is so boring her eyes start closing again. Okay, she really doesn't want the teacher to call her parents. Breath in. Breath out. Her eyes look straight ahead, but she is not focused on the lesson—a civilian teacher won't be able to notice it though—. Breath in. Slow and warm, chakra flows through her system. Breath out. She makes the natural flow change into a spin and keeps it tight at her core. It spins fast and it becomes faster by the second. The exercise helps to improve her chakra control, but that's not what she is trying to do right now.
Once she finishes her warm-up, she sends a thin layer of chakra through the sole of her feet which expands until it envelopes the classroom's floor. Chakra and the life energy each person has in this world are similar which makes it easy to determine the number of children in the classroom without looking. Still, it is considerably more difficult to read into each energy. Depending on ability, reading Chakra signatures can give a lot of information about a person, like their main element, personality, emotions, and raw power—among a lot of conjectures about the target—. In this world, it seems like life energy doesn't have such clear rules. While sometimes Quirk correlates to the element Chieko can feel, it's usually personality what defines the element (ex: calm and adaptable people feel like water). On top of that, the "flow" also has to do with personality. For example, if a person feels like water and the flow is like a tsunami, then it could mean the person is adaptable yet easily angered or has a very stubborn personality. In addition to that, she has found people who don't particularly feel like any element—like Mirio, who feels like "sunshine"—. On the other hand, the strength/size of Chakra gives the same information as the quantity of life energy. For example, heroes feel more brightly than civilians, which makes them easier to track and gives her a guess towards raw strength (just like it is easier to track a Bijuu than a single Shinobi). She still needs to take more tests in order to figure out how to read life energy correctly, but according to all her work until now, it may only be possible to accurately know location and raw strength… For now, she will try to increase the area her chakra can cover. In three months, her chakra should be able to cover the entire school and localize each person in the area.
Chieko tries to ignore it at first.
It starts with Mirio's poorly disguised worried glances. Each lunch and time together, it's obvious he has something to say. A day later, Izuku's eyes follow her everywhere. The changes worry her, but they are obviously trying to hide whatever is bothering them. She is trying to be less controlling and since there aren't any red flags—like bullying or suspicious teachers—, she lets it slide. If they truly want to tell her something, then they will do it.
They don't.
Days pass and the worried young eyes following her everywhere don't stop. It irks her and she doesn't bother to hide her bad mood. Maybe if they see their behavior angers her, they will try to speak with her.
They don't.
…
Chieko knows her boys very well. When she is angry, they have a simple unspoken rule: don't get close. She has different levels of anger, but when her eyes look entirely and notoriously inexpressive, everyone knows it is better to avoid her. She knows that as well, so when she feels that anger bubbling in her throat—and it's not quite anger but more like a feeling of discomfort that makes her want to scream—, she avoids them too.
They haven't been talking for the last three days. The walk to school with Izuku is filled with silence, and when they sit together, only Izuku and Mirio talk. This has not happened before. Why? This is the first time Chieko doesn't try to get answers from her friends. It's creepy and stressful to want to know every little thing that troubles Mirio and Izuku, so she decided to try and fix that. The first step is to give them the right to decide what things they want to share with her—meaning not forcing them to answer her questions, and not scaring them to follow her wishes—. While they are little, their problems are simple, so it is good practice for when they grow up. Still, her patience is running out.
...
“Watanabe…?” it's lunch time, and as she gets out of the bathroom and walks towards the cafeteria, a whisper makes her turn around. The owner of the voice is a boy with dark hair and pointy ears.
“Yes?”
She is not the most approachable person. Unless the children are balls of sunshine like Mirio and Izuku, they usually avoid her. If this boy, who looks extremely shy, wants to speak with her, it may be important…
“I-I w-want…Wait, I don't w-want…,” he struggles to find the words to speak and that's when she recognizes him.
“You are Mirio's friend,” she remembers that terrible first day of school. Amajiki brought Sasuke's memory to the surface. Now that she pays attention to him —his eyes and nervous demeanor— she realizes they couldn't be more different.
“Ah, yes… I…,” it's not her problem if he can't communicate with her, and if he was anyone else but Mirio's acquaintance, she would ignore him. Unfortunately, Amajiki is Mirio's friend, so she feels forced to at least listen to him. She gives him a little smile and hides all her discomfort towards the present situation with her friends.
“I'm listening, don't be shy,” her words embarrass him and he turns around. For a second, she believes he will run away. Instead he speaks without facing her.
“I don't w-want you to h-hate Mirio. I-I know you don't like me, b-but…” she had every intention to let him finish, but his words make no sense.
“I don't hate Mirio, and I don't know you, so I can't dislike you”
“B-but you haven't been speaking, and… and it's b-because Mirio s-saw you don't like me… H-he told me he would ask you, and…”
“So that's what has been… Gods, so it was nothing serious after all. Look, Amajiki, I don't dislike you. I don't know what made you think that,” her words don't seem to bring him any relief, so she invites him to sit next to her in the corridor. Even sitted, the boy refuses to look at her and stares at the floor as if wishing for the Earth to swallow him.
“M-maybe I-I am wrong, b-but you n-never l-look at me w-when I sit with the three of you, and you n-never talk with m-me… It's not i-important! But Mirio n-noticed too andgotworriedthenIzukualsonoticedandtheywantedtoaskbuttheydidnotandIIdidnotwanttomaketroubleand I'm sorry!”
Wow, okay, that was… something else. At least he is not crying and she understood the basics of his whispered ramble. In summary, her behavior towards Amajiki made Mirio worried, who told Izuku, and together they have been trying to ask her about it. Amajiki feels the distance between them it's his fault, so he came to apologize. Which takes her to another problem. She is not the most friendly person in the world, but she doesn't completely ignore people either. Since Amajiki is Mirio's close friend, she should have talked with him before. Yet, this is the first time they have spoken. Chieko may have been avoiding Amajiki… and it's worrying that she hadn't noticed until the boy brought it to her attention.
“I'm not lying to make you feel better, I really don't dislike you. You just…” he is a child, a stranger, and she doesn't owe him any explanations, the words flow out of her mouth anyway “You look like someone I knew”
“Oh… D-did you hate him?”
Uchiha Sasuke was a nightmare child. He was always insufferable whenever Itachi cancelled their time together, and never showed much appreciation towards Shisui's and her presence when Itachi was with him. Nonetheless, he was in Itachi's “I will give my life for you” list, and he was a cute child, so she simply wasn't able to dislike him.
“I didn't. He was the little brother of someone I loved very much, but I can't see them anymore, so it makes me sad to remember him. I think that's why I didn't talk with you,” saying her thoughts out loud makes her uncomfortable but it doesn't feel bad. Instead, it's kind of… liberating.
Talking to a stranger is easy. There's no pressure about how much information to share, or worry about how that information will impact them. She tells Amajiki a little about Sasuke—his appearance, his tomato addiction, his love for Itachi, and his talent (Fugaku was an idiot blinded by Itachi's genius. Sasuke deserved more attention as proved by her glimpse to the future)—. Their conversation —more like Chieko's monologue since Amajiki doesn't talk much— ends up with Chieko apologizing for avoiding him and a repetitive reassurance that she doesn't mind his friendship with Mirio and his presence won't separate them.
...
By the end of the year, the Amajikis join their Christmas' reunion, and Chieko has another friend with an illogically strong desire to become a hero.
She will have white hair by the time she is sixteen and she isn't even trying to stop a civil war this time.
“Dad is going back to Niigata and he invited us to go and stay on the farm,” the statement arrives out of nowhere while they are sitting on the couch watching movies. It is July and summer vacation just started, so it makes sense for grandfather to invite them over. Still...
“Don't you have work?,” Chieko's question is directed to both of them. Their jobs are demanding and the breaks they get are not very long. In other circumstances, she wouldn't mind if they didn't go to work and ended up fired —a teacher and a psychologist should be able to find work in other places besides jail—, but she has discovered it is surprisingly difficult to find good and stable jobs in this world. In a place with so many people, there should be expected more competition and an increase in unemployment. Still, the differences between little Konoha and Japan are shocking.
“We have been working a lot to get some extra free time, so it should be alright if we take our vacations now,” as her mother explains, Chieko snuggles up more in the makeshift bed her parents' legs do. They all already got bored of the movie, but Chieko doesn't want to move to get the remote control from the kitchen —where her father forgot it after making popcorn—, and her parents can't move if she doesn't move.
“I think Grandpa could use the company,” she knows most of the reason why Grandfather has been living in Musutafu is because he feels alone in Niigata. Not alone as in "there is no one I can talk to" but alone as in "I want to be with my family". There is an Elementary School where Grandfather lives, so maybe she could go there and… No, again, her parents can't simply leave their jobs, and she doesn't want to leave her friends either…
“Then it's decided”
…
They make their way to Niigata by car. Mother and Father take turns driving, and Grandfather stays in the back with Chieko. Once they enter the prefecture, Daisuke dedicates himself to tell her all kinds of things about the place. Apparently, Niigata has many tourists each year and it is famous for its high quality rice. He promises to take her to all the tourism spots and show her the best coastal and mountainous sceneries. They pass the urban part of the prefecture, go up a mountain and through a small forest until they arrive at a valley filled with rice fields. As they advance, the few people working in the fields wave their hands in greeting. Finally, they arrive at one of the traditional houses distributed among the fields.
“What do you think? Do you like it?,” the pride in her Grandfather's voice is evident and it's not for nothing.
“I don't think I could dislike it even if I tried,” she says while getting out of the car. The clear sky, the smell of nature, and the green fields are breathtaking. For the first time in this life, she takes a breath of pure clean air. There are no trees or anything that blocks their view, which makes her feel a little exposed, but it's nice nonetheless.
While her parents organize their things, Daisuke shows her around the house. Her room's window has a perfect view of a Sakura tree. She can't avoid resenting the time of the year. If it was March, the tree would have flowers. They pass his room, and the room her parents will be occupying. Grandfather takes her to the kitchen, and the living room. There is no technology except for a landline phone, a radio, and Daisuke's own mobile phone.
“This was Aanya's office. She used to work as a nurse for the townspeople…,” there is a desk in the middle of the room, and around it, a library that goes from wall to wall. A quick scan of the books' spines tells Chieko her Grandmother liked a variety of topics. Although medicine is the most prominent, geography, politics, arts, history, mythology, and fantasy are also topics on the shelf.
“She loved learning, huh?”
“Knowledge was not as freely shared in her first life as it is now here, so Aanya took advantage of every little thing she could learn,” he smiles and traces the books close to him.
“So she told you about her past?,” curiosity boils inside her, but more than anything else… She wants to understand how her Grandmother was capable of sharing her story with others. Chieko understands their circumstances are different, yet wouldn't the words be painful either way? Her Grandfather turns walks towards her and ruffles her hair.
“She shared some things with me… I haven't talked about that in a long time, but now that you are here… Do you want to hear about it?”
The wood squeaks outside the room and they look at each other with mirth in their eyes. Her dad is so bad at eavesdropping. Does he seriously think they can't hear him?
“Are you sure? Wasn't it something she didn't want others to know?,” that's what she would have preferred at least.
“You are her granddaughter, I'm sure she wouldn't mind. I also think Hiro would like to hear more about her, isn't that right, son?,” the door opens and her father has the biggest grin she has ever seen.
“Are you serious?,” the excited tone makes Daisuke laugh. He puts his hand behind her back, motioning her towards the door “Lets go, I will tell you all I know about Joan, Queen Guinevere's loyal servant”
Summer vacations in Niigata turn out to be less vacations and more work. Daisuke takes them with him and makes them help him with the rice fields. Chieko doesn't mind that much, it's good physical activity. Hiroyuki on the other hand…
“You made me study so I could go to the city and work in something else. Why am I doing this then?,” his cries echo through the field each time he has to bend over. Everyone knows he is joking though (mostly), so Daisuke doesn't scold him much.
“Come on, son. Don't be lazy. If you never exercise, you won't be able to walk without a cane when you are my age”
“Your father is right, Hiroyuki. You were such a strong young man, and now look at you, being a weakling, your daughter is more fit than you are” Tanaka-san is one of the neighbors. The old man enjoys teasing her dad with all kinds of taunts—Daisuke mentioned Tanaka was Hiro's babysitter a long time ago—. She also got to meet her father's self-appointed uncles, who are Daisuke's best friends. It was particularly exhausting to meet their wifes—her cheeks still hurt from that meeting—. When socializing becomes too much, she goes to her Grandmother's library. Daisuke gave her permission to use it as she pleases (as long as she is careful not to damage anything), and Mother sometimes accompanies her. All in all, Chieko had a good time until she tried to sneak out and explore the forest. It seems like her father and grandfather have some type of sensor ability too because they noticed she wasn't in the house — “We couldn't feel you Chieko, of course we were going to worry! That was reckless and irresponsible! You have to tell us before you go outside and you can't go out at night,” an angry Hiroyuki is not a pretty sight—. And guess what? She is grounded now. They know she doesn't mind staying home though, so her punishment is less traditional. Chieko has to help the aunties for a week —they seemed a little too excited to have a child around. She knows they mean well, but she really didn't want to be there—.
Although humiliating, she will take the lesson to heart. Chieko must pay more attention to how the quirks of others work—that's definitely not what Hiroyuki and Yua wanted her to reflect about—. Next time she will use a shadow clone—once she has enough chakra to try it—… but would that really fool her father? Can he feel the emotions of clones?
Uh, she did not think about how her techniques mesh with different quirks… She has to test her jutsus too and make sure everything works as it should. And what a better time to do it than now? A place with lots of space and no cameras is the perfect location to experiment.
…
A week later, she is free from the aunties. Her cheeks suffered and she is now the adopted niece of all three Grandmothers, but it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Chieko learned a lot of new things: Tanaka-san (wife) taught her how to milk a cow, Fujii-san taught her how to ride a horse, and Nakano-san taught her how to bake. It was a fun experience.
She had been planning on exploring and training in the forest, but she is not sure she can fool her parents and she wants to avoid making them worry —she also doesn't want to get yelled at by dad and then scolded for two hours by her mom again—. It is not that bad of a setback, she just has to change the order of the techniques she wants to practice first.
She gets out of the house, and walks around towards the Sakura tree. A quick thin wave of Chakra goes through her feet. Grandfather is in Tanaka-san's house, Mother is at Nakano-san's house, and Father is at Grandmother's office. Chieko will have to be careful. She has trained her body and Chakra control in front of them, but she doesn't want to risk freaking them out with everything else. They already know she can do a lot with Chakra, it isn't necessary for them to see it.
First things first. Make sure no one can see her. Rat. Serpent. Bird. Kakusareta no Jutsu. It's the first time she lets her chakra be directed by her hand signs in this word, yet the action feels natural and undemanding. Her chakra moves, orders given and understood, and an invisible circular perimeter forms around her. Anyone who looks towards her won't see anything out of the ordinary and will have the urge to look away. It is a low rank jutsu that can be easily broken, but it should be enough. That can work as another experiment. Can people here break out of genjutsu without Chakra?
She was expecting more trouble with Chakra control… it seems her worry was for nothing, she didn't waste her chakra and seeing that the technique worked, she used enough. Her Chakra reserves are good and she doesn't feel any problems with her pathways or Tenketsu. Nice.
If she is able to do genjutsu, then she will be able to do the basics. Hopefully.
Ram, Tiger, Snake and her incorporeal copy appears in front of her. Chieko already overcame the weirdness of seeing someone else in the mirror, so the clone's appearance doesn't surprise her. However… it's appearance is close enough to Chieko, but an observant person would be able to notice. The hair is straight on some points and the lips are a little smaller than they should. Chieko gets closer to the copy and sees a little scar on its neck—from that one time she almost got killed by a rock ninja—. Indoubtly, there's some resemblance to Hatsu in the clone, so she has to practice more.
She spends the next 3 hours practicing the basics. Tree walking is easy and the tree ends unharmed. Her substitution is good as well. What bothers her is how much smoke and sound her Body Flicker makes. Chieko was never as skillful as Shisui, but she wasn't terrible at it either. Maybe this time… this time she may be able to reach them… a tired sigh leaves her, it's too late for that now. Even if she reaches a point where she could fight beside them…
“Chieko, come back inside! It's time to eat!”
Right.
Her effort is not useless.
“Coming!”