Chapter 9
The scar on her lip is kind of a pain.
It feels strange for one thing, tough and bumpy, making her aware of its presence every time her mouth shifts or when she gets too excited while talking or when she yawns too widely.
Of course, once she’s reminded that it’s there, she want to fiddle with it. But for some reason whenever she gets bored enough to do so, Naruto or Sakura or whoever’s sitting closest to her will grab her arm and say “No.” in a Very Stern Voice.
It almost feels a little demeaning. Not quite, but almost.
What is demeaning is Uchiha glaring at her, and demanding, “Are you some kind of coward?”
She blinks, thermos of miso halfway to her mouth. “Beg your pardon?”
He eyes her disdainfully. “We’re going to be ninja. We fight to kill our enemies—”
“I’m going to be a pirate, actually.” She interrupts.
Naruto snorts softly into his rice.
“—Pirates kill people too, shut up.” Uchiha hisses.
“Wait. Is this about the biting thing?” She asks, incredulous. Surely not. Uchiha is a clan kid. He should know how this works—
Uchiha sniffs imperiously. “You’ll just drag me down if you always need Sakura to save you from a fight.”
Apparently not.
Robin give her strength.
“Hey!” Kiba yells. “Sakura beating up Ami was totally badass. Mizuki-sensei shoulda given her a medal instead of detention!”
Sakura goes as pink as her hair as Akamaru yips in agreement, mumbling something about it not being a big deal around her second stick of dango. She does return the fist bump Kiba offers though.
“That’s not the point.” Uchiha retorts dismissively. “The point is we’re going to fight and kill as ninja— don’t.” He stabs an accusing finger in her direction and she raises her hands in mock surrender. “And Ketsugi never fights back. She says stuff, but then she runs away, or lets other people take care of it, or hurts herself. It’s weak, stupid cowardice.”
The last word is said with such vehemence that it’s hard for her not to flinch.
“Well, it’s not like I have any choice.” She snaps, irritably.
Uchiha scoffs. “What are you talking about?! The only thing stopping you is your own stupid, cowardly ideas about pacifism!!”
She blinks, trying to process that last bit. “What? What on earth are you on about?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know!” He screams, all but jumping out of his seat, “It’s just like him! I’m not watching another one—not when I can stop it!!”
Uchiha looms over her, glaring down, chest heaving from the force of his yelling.
She has no idea what he’s talking about. She feels more worried for him than insulted at this point.
“Hey Shino.” Chouji cuts in, munching on his second onigiri. “There are insects that don’t get along with your bugs, right? Ones that weren’t born in your hive?”
Shino tilts his head, letting his insects eat bits of strawberry from his daifuku off his finger. “That is a technically true statement. Why? Because while my kikaichū do not have natural enemies in the way ants and termites are opposed to one another, there are several species of insect and arachnid that would prey upon them, which have been utilized by imitator clans in other hidden villages.”
“Right.” Chouji continues. “So, let’s say you found one of these bugs that eats them had injured one of yours. Not killed, but injured. What do you do?”
Shino stiffens, but replies, “I would exterminate it. Why? Because it has proven itself a viable threat to my colony.”
“Wh-that doesn’t mean anything!” Uchiha interrupts. “It’d have to be one of Aburame’s bugs attacking another of the same hive, since Ketsugi was born here, so—”
“No I wasn’t.”
Uchiha actually has the gall to shoot her a disbelieving look. “Yes you were.”
“No I wasn’t.” She hisses, leaning forward. “I was born in Iron, like my father. One of my earliest memories is him and my mother leaving the country, on the run from something that made it better to drug their baby rather than let me cry and have whatever it was find us.”
A hush falls over the table.
“That would explain why you’re here, in Konoha.” Shikamaru says slowly. “Even if it’s not the closest to Iron, it’s one of the strongest hidden villages, so pursuers would have trouble trying to get through our defenses.”
“And guess what happens if the village decides me and mine are too much trouble to live here anymore?” She snaps, taking a swig of her miso.
It’s gone lukewarm.
Uchiha’s turned pale, staring blankly down at his bruschetta. He slowly sits back down.
“So...” Kiba says, feeding Akamaru some pork belly. “Are you, like, some kinda lost princess or something?”
“What? No, of course not.” Ino and Sakura’s eyes take on a worrying gleam. “I said no. I’m not. No. Stop that. Stop it right now, the pair of you.”
“We’re not doing anything~” Sakura sing-songs, hands clasped against her chest.
She squints at them, lips thinning. “Lies.”
“Hey hey, Mayu-chan,” Ino says, leaning forward. “If you just happened to be a lost princess or daimyo’s daughter hiding from a usurper’s assassins, you’d totally hook your best besties in the entire world up with some hot princes, right?”
“Does Naruto even like princes?” She replies, bracing herself against Sakura’s playful assault on her shins and Ino’s tossed napkins. “Ow, ow, I’m kidding, I’m kidding!”
“Aw, what! I wanna meet a prince, believe it!” Naruto whines, though his playful tone sounds a little strained.
“Tough.” She sticks her tongue out at him. He blows a raspberry back in response.
“So who were your family in Iron?” Chouji asks, passing her an apple slice.
She shrugs, handing him her cookie. “Just one of the many, many samurai clans who serve the Iron daimyo. Like the Kiryuuin, the Kurogane, the Kishi, the Kageyama, the Kihote, the Kikuchi, the Kaname, the Koremune, the Kusakabe, and loads of others.”
“Do all of these clan names start with ‘K’ sounds?” Hinata asks.
“...No.” She says.
“Could you give us an example one that doesn’t?” Hinata asks.
“...The Okashi.”
“What the heck, that doesn’t count! They just slapped an ‘O’ in front of the ‘Ka’!” Kiba complains, Akamaru barking his agreement.
“You’re the last person to say anything about ‘K’ names.” Shikamaru replies.
“You’ve not got much room to talk either, Shika-kun.” Chouji ribs, nudging his friend.
From there it devolves into a debate about how many “k” sounds are in whose names, and who has the right to criticize an excess of “k’s” based off of that. So far, only Shino and Hinata are awarded that honor.
Naruto isn’t as active in the conversation as he usually is, only responding when addressed directly, staring into space when not.
Uchiha doesn’t say much at all.
Naruto goes straight to the swing-set outside the Academy once the day ends.
She follows him, watching curiously as he clambers up to stand on the swing, looking up at something behind her with a solemn expression on his face, eyebrows furrowed in thought.
She goes up to the tree and sits between its roots to wait.
Lee comes out of the Academy, and come striding towards them. “Greetings Mayu-chan! Naru—”
“Ssh!” She hushes, jerking her head towards Naruto.
Lee instantly clams up, a quizzical expression on his face.
She shuffles a bit to the side and pats the ground next to her, and he plops down to sit cross-legged beside her.
“What’s Naruto doing?” He whispers to her.
“I don’t know.” She whispers back. “But he’s concentrating really hard, so I didn’t want to disturb him.”
Lee nods in understanding, then waves silently but with great enthusiasm at a girl with her hair in buns who passes them.
She seems like a nice girl, because she waves back.
They play five rounds of rock-paper-scissors, four of which Lee wins, and one of which results in a hushed debate about whether “gun” is a “youthful” option in this game, before Naruto finally speaks.
“I’m gonna be the Hokage, believe it.”
They look up at him, standing on the swing, jaw set in determination, hair swaying in the breeze that swirls a few leaves past his face.
“...Okay? Weren’t you always going to be Hokage though?” She asks, not quite seeing where he’s going with this.
“Wh—yes, but s’more than that.” Naruto says, exasperation evident in his tone.
He lets go of one of the swing’s ropes, and gazes down at his clenched fist. “I wanted to be Hokage ‘cause old Jiji’s the most respected person in the village. Everyone loves him, an’ he protects everyone, because everyone’s his precious people.”
He looks at them, eyes bright and painfully earnest. “But even though everyone in the village is precious, some’ve them’re still so mean to you, and to Otou-san and to Okaa-san, just for being from somewhere not here, f’r bein’ different, an’ that’s not fair. So I wanna be Hokage, so I can tell them not to be mean. I’m gonna be Hokage so you don’t have to bite yourself anymore, and so we can all always go home to Okaa-san and Otou-san and Gai-sensei an’ eat tortoise bread. So everyone can be happy, and understand I’ll protect everyone, no matter what, believe it. What foods we like is more important than where we’re from, right?”
Oh.
Oh.
She swallows around a lump in her throat. “Right. T-that’s exactly, exactly right.”
Lee gives a great sniff, fat tears rolling down his cheeks. “Your resolve is highly youthful, Naruto! I am sure you will even surpass the Yondaime when you become Hokage!!”
Naruto rubs the back of his head, grinning widely.
Then a stronger gust of wind rocks the swing and he teeters dangerously, arm windmilling as she and Lee lunge forward to catch him, try to cushion his fall somewhat.
She’s partly successful as Lee’s lunge ends up knocking Naruto off the swing entirely, the pair landing on her with a thud that drives the air from her lungs and leaves her wheezing.
“Ow.”
They end up half-limping home.
Otou-san is dozing on the couch, and he blinks awake drowsily at their chorus of “we’re home,” only to tilt his head in sleepy confusion.
“What happened to you three?” He asks, nodding towards her dust and bark covered dress as he picks a few leaves off of Naruto’s clothes, before pulling aside some of Lee’s hair to see the faint bruise where the swing swung back and clocked him in the head. “Did you all get into a fight at the Academy?”
They share a glance.
“N—” Lee starts.
“Yes.” She hastily cuts in, “Big fight. Very nasty.”
Naruto nods vigorously along with her. “Yeah, there were loads of missing nin with huge swords an’ killer laser jutsu an’ stuff.”
“That does sound scary,” Otou-san says, gently ruffling Lee’s hair with bandaged hands. “Lee, why don’t you go get an icepack from the freezer for that bruise? They’re on the top shelf.”
As Lee nods and trot off to the kitchen, her father shifts to sit more upright on the couch. “What were missing-nin doing at the Academy anyway?”
“They thought Mayu-chan was a lost princess, so they were tryna steal her for ransom.” Naruto replies, kneeling next to the couch so he can receive hair ruffles as well.
“Ah, I see.” Otou-san smiles, obliging him. “Mayu-chan, your mother is waiting in the back yard to do that.”
“Already?” She grimaces. She’d forgotten— thought she had more time...
“You don’t have to.” Otou-san urges softly. “There’s no shame in not doing it. I never did when I was your age. We could tell—”
“No.” She says firmly, fists clenched. “I-I want to do this too. Just—let me go prepare, alright?”
Her father nods slowly, his face solemn. She turns and climbs the stairs, ignoring Naruto’s worried stares or his queries about what was going on.
Sanji and Brook give her courage. Let it be over quickly, at least.
“Done.” Okaa-sama says, and she can barely contain her shudder of relief.
Her mother hands her a mirror, brushing stray bits off her shoulders. “Just as it always is, see?”
She keeps her gaze on her newly trimmed fringe and the Nico Robin cut brushing her shoulders, pretending she doesn’t see the shorn, wet slivers littering her clothes and the ground around her.
“Thank you, Okaa-san.” She smiles weakly, gratefully accepting the hug she receives and trying to ignore the pit of guilt in her stomach.
“I don’t get it.” Naruto says, sitting on the threshold of the back door. “What’s so bad about a haircut?”
“Well, for samurai, long hair is a mark of honor.” Otou-san says, hands folded into his kimono sleeves. “To have it cut off is a sign that you are no longer a samurai, which is highly dishonorable for lots of people in Iron. Mayu-chan has the spirit of a true samurai, so she hates having her hair cut.”
“Is that why you still have long hair, Jirou oji-san?” Lee asks, sipping on a cup of juice while holding a half-thawed ice pack to his head.
Otou-san tries to do an overdramatic flip of his braid, making the two boys giggle when it just ends up smacking him in the arm. “My hair is far too lustrous to be cut by the likes of sword or scissors!”
“Care to prove it, dear?” Okaa-san challenges, brandishing her scissors playfully.
Her father retreats back into the house in mock-fear. “You’re one of the lights of my life, darling! Even in the Pure Lands, my love for you will burn brighter than the sun!”
Her mother shakes her head. “And mine for you will shine brighter than the moon. Now inside, all of you, so we can begin making dinner.”
The discussion about hair continues through the preparation of hamburger steaks with sautéed greens.
Naruto and Lee are suitably amazed by the idea of women in Iron wearing their hair practically down to their ankles. Her brain just keeps conjuring up a mental image of Kumadori from CP9 in a woman’s kimono, with his long pink hair and kabuki poses.
“Doesn’t their hair get dirty, Mayu’s Okaa-san?” Naruto asks, almost dropping the patty he’s throwing between his hands.
Her mother shrugs. “I’m sure it must do— I was just as surprised as you when I saw it after I married your Otou-san and moved into the clan compound. I must confess, I never really understood the fascination for long hair that a lot of people in Iron have.”
“Do they not wear it like that in Kiri, Chie oba-san?” Lee says, depositing his chili flake-and-paprika-filled hamburger into the hissing frying pan.
“Oh, they can.” Her mother says, finally taking Naruto’s hamburger off him when he fumbles it again. “My baby cousin Mei had hair down to here.” She wiggles an elbow as she deposits the patty into the pan. “But since her hair was so thick and wavy, she found it a headache to deal with. Mayu-chan’s lucky she got her father’s fine hair, even with my color.”
“I love this color.” Otou-san declares, leaning over from stirring the spinach to plant a loud, wet kiss on Okaa-san’s cheek.
She pretends to gag as Naruto snickers, while Lee watches the display of affection with bright, shining eyes.
“Anyway.” She interrupts loudly. “Otou-san, what are we going to do for practice with the bokken? We were gonna move into fighting opponents before—”
There’s a moment of awkward silence as everyone tries to avoid thinking about what “before” signified.
“Well, you don’t need to worry about that, Mayu-chan.” Her father says, smile a touch too wide and gleeful. “I’ve made arrangements so we shouldn’t be thrown off our planned course too much. You may even pick it up faster!”
She understands the reason behind his glee the next morning.
She wishes she didn’t.
“You can’t be serious.” She says to her grinning father.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” He beams. “This is the perfect way for you to get used to fighting an opponent. You need to learn how to adapt what I’ve taught you to counter a variety of fighting styles, given that it’s unlikely every opponent you face will be playing by the same rules you are.”
“Yosh! Well-said, Jirou-san!” Gai-sensei cheers, far too energetic for someone who’s just made them to do thirty laps around Konoha on one leg.
He finishes warming up and takes up opening position for Strong Fist style. “Now, Mayu-chan! Your aim for today will be to land a single blow on me before I disarm you! When you succeed, we will move on to landing two consecutive blows, then three, and so on until you are able to spar against me properly. Are you ready?”
The feeling of imminent regret is an old and familiar friend by this point.
She tries to make sure her grip on the bokken is as solid as possible. “Ready.”
By the time her mother opens the back door, she’s lying on her back, panting from the effort of trying to stand, and the bokken is lodged at the top of the neighbor’s tree.
She hadn’t even landed a hit once.
Even with her father yelling “helpful” advice like “Go for the hands!” once chakra had come into play.
“You have a visitor, Mayu-chan.” Okaa-san says.
“Ah, greetings young Uchiha! How are you this most youthful morning?” Gai-sensei asks cheerily, like he isn’t half-way to scaling the garden fence to get her weapon back for her.
She turns her head to the side, just in time to catch sight of Uchiha staring at the green-spandex-clad wonder that is Gai-sensei in silent stupefaction.
She wishes she had a camera so she could capture his expression.
Uchiha shakes his head, as though to disperse the shock of acknowledging Gai-sensei’s existence, then looks around until he sees her on the ground.
“What are you doing?” He asks, brows drawn down like he’s personally offended by her presence.
“Dying.” She tells him flatly. “Lee gets Habu-san, and Naruto gets all my cookbooks. He’ll eat way too much ramen otherwise.”
Uchiha glances between where Gai-sensei is making a lot of rustling noises and at her, considering. “Can I have the sword?”
She snorts. “Like shit, that’s Sakura’s. You get the all purpose flour.”
Her father sighs and kneels down to offer her an arm up. “Language, young lady. You did very well today.”
Her legs wobble under her and it’s a fight not to collapse right back down.
Gai-sensei leaps from the tree with a yell, rolling and neatly popping up in front of them with a thumbs up. “Yes! Once you stop freezing up in the face of jutsu, you’ll land a blow on me for sure, Mayu-chan!”
Uchiha shoots her a look that is extremely judgmental. “You couldn’t even land one hit?”
“Shut up Uchiha.” She says, taking the bokken back from Gai-sensei with a tired nod. “Why are you here, anyway? Is there a problem with cooking today?”
“We’re not doing that.” Uchiha drops his voice a few octaves. “I’m giving you the opportunity to prove your fighting spirit. You versus me. No politics, no cowardice. No holding back.”
The wind picks up, a cold draft that swirls leaves between them.
“Do you want me to die? No.” She says, leaning on the bokken. “I’ve spent all morning getting my a—”Her mother clears her throat pointedly. “—My butt kicked. I need a rest. And food.”
“Wh—I’ll give you food!” Uchiha blusters. “A-and it’s not just you! I’m fighting everyone!! You can rest while I fight Lee or Shino or something!”
“SUCH YOUTHFUL SPIRIT!!” Gai-sensei bellows, throwing an arm over Uchiha’s shoulders. “You truly are a paragon of your clan’s sense of camaraderie, young Sasuke! I would be honored if you would allow me to witness your battle with Lee!!”
“Young Sasuke” cringes away from the spandex’d arm. “No. No adults allowed. They’ll just hold us back.”
Gai-sensei wilts.
“Mayu can take some pictures of the fight for us!” Okaa-san adds quickly. “She’ll be happy to do it, won’t you Mayu?”
Gai-sensei immediately perks back up. “What a youthful idea, Chie-san!! Mayu-chan, be sure to capture these expressions of Youth as best you can! We’re counting on you!”
He shoots her a vigorous thumbs-up as her mother goes pink and swoons.
“Ah, I think our camera’s in a drawer over here—” Otou-san darts into the house, muttering under his breath about where he last saw it.
She stares blearily up at them. “Can I have a shower and some breakfast first?”
By the time she comes back down from her shower, the atmosphere feels very...awkward.
Lee’s arrived, and has been armed with their family camera on a thick cord around his neck. It’s what she’d consider an old one, big and bulky, that prints out its photos from a little slit on the bottom.
He waves to her, his mouth full of rice. She gives him a little wave back.
Uchiha is sitting stiffly in Naruto’s chair, staring down at an untouched plate of tamagoyaki like it’ll hold all the answers to the universe.
Okaa-san is washing dishes, back tense. She hands her a plate without a word.
Otou-san’s mouth is drawn, bandaged hand curled into a loose fist. He doesn’t even seem to notice Gai-sensei’s hand on his arm.
Gai-sensei smiles at her, but it’s strained. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say it’s almost worried.
She wants to ask what happened in a cool, sneaky way that wouldn’t make the situation get worse, like Robin or Nami or Sanji or Brook can. But she’s not smart enough for that.
So she shovels egg and rice into her mouth, trying to eat as quickly as possible.
She wishes Naruto was here. It’s not fair the Hokage gets him for practically the whole two days on these weekends.
She kicks Uchiha’s ankle under the table. When he yelps and glares at her, she nods towards his plate and mouths “EAT”.
He scowls at her, but finally takes a bite, chewing aggressively.
They clear their plates in silence.
“I guess we’re heading out.” She says, after putting their dirty dishes in the sink. Uchiha just grunts and heads straight for the door.
Even Zoro has better manners than that kid.
“See you later Gai-sensei, Jirou-oji-san, Chie-oba-san!” Lee yells, holding the camera tightly. “Mayu-chan and I will fight with all of our youthful spirit today!”
“Lee!” Gai-sensei cries, tears streaming down his face. “You’ve worked so hard in training...I know all your youthful efforts will allow your strength to blossom!!”
“Gai-sensei!” Lee yells back, beginning to cry himself.
“Lee!”
“Gai-sensei!”
She chuckles despite herself. “I’ll make sure to get a lot of good pictures, Okaa-san, Otou-san.”
Her mother catches her face in a soapy hand, thumb stroking over her cheek. Her eyes are impossibly sad, for some reason.
“We love you, Mayu.” She says. “You know that, right?
She smiles. “Of course I know. I love you too. Even more than Luffy loves meat.”
The worry on Okaa-san’s face melts into fondness. She leans forward to plant a kiss on her forehead, then steps aside so Otou-san can wipe the soap off her cheek with a tea-towel and plant a noisy kiss there instead.
Uchiha makes an impatient noise in the hallway, so she and Lee shout their goodbyes as they follow him out of the door.
Lee really likes the camera.
It took him a little bit to work out the settings to keep the photograph from being under or overexposed, but now he’s merrily snapping away at anything that captures his attention.
Which, so far, has included a bunch of pink flowers, a dog, a bird in its nest, a couple of ninja outside a weapon shop, an old lady in a pretty kimono who called him “a very nice boy”, and three babies in matching ninja-themed prams.
“Can you stop that and get a move on?!” Uchiha snaps. “There won’t be any film left at this rate.”
“Ah! Not to worry, Uchiha-kun!” Lee digs around and pulls out three black capsules of the stuff from...somewhere. “Jirou-oji-san was nice enough to insist I take extra!”
Uchiha groans and slaps his hands over his face as Lee catches sight of a curry restaurant and snaps a shot of its sign.
“Aw, lighten up Uchiha. Let him have his fun.” She ribs gently. “Where’s the harm?”
He stops in the street. When she looks back at him, he’s trembling slightly, fists clenched.
“Fun doesn’t make you stronger.” He sneers, “It’s a weakness that sets you up to be killed.”
He strides forward and body-checks her out of the way, stomping off down the road.
She stares after him, more than a little disquieted, scratching at her scar before following.
She stops and stares.
Along the top of the Uchiha compound there are katana, naginata, sai, spears, daggers, arrows, knives, staffs with kunai tied to the top, even what looks like a fishing pole.
All of them have been bound to the top of the exterior wall by copious amounts of black wire and tape, rusting or ornamental blades jabbing at the sky like a hedgehog’s spines.
Lee lifts the camera and snaps a picture.
The rest of their lunchtime group is standing near the entrance to the compound, also gaping at the wall’s spiky additions.
“Ah, Sasuke-kun!” Sakura says. “Um, what’s all this?”
Uchiha scoffs. “I know you’re a civilian, but even you can recognize traps, can’t you?”
“Aren’t traps supposed to be hidden?” Kiba mutters, Akamaru whining on top of his head.
Uchiha pushes open the door, pausing to unhook what looks like several tripwires and other mechanisms. “Even that man wouldn’t be able to get past all of this. He wouldn’t even dare chance it!”
They all begin trooping inside, only for Uchiha to quickly turn and say, “Step exactly where I step if you don’t want to die.”
There’s a veritable web of tripwires crossing the path through the compound, spidering haphazardly up trees and the sides of buildings. Several of the abandoned stores have been rigged with what looks like the sharp things Uchiha couldn’t mount on the wall, alongside what she thinks she recognizes as rudimentary explosives.
Usopp preserve us, she thinks as they gingerly pick their way through the tangle after the last Uchiha, who may have gone off the deep end while they weren’t looking.
Shikamaru mutters “Troublesome,” like an oath.