The Academy courtyard was quiet for once, well, kind of. Most of the students had already gone home, leaving me behind as I practiced some extra taijutsu sessions, which had become my new way of dealing with and thinking through the day's lessons. Plus, it was never bad to be prepared for the future. So, there I was, alone, hitting the wooden pole, each punch, each step, each breath in sync as I was doing what I did best... imitating. I mean, by now it was more than just imitation, of course. Thanks to Dad teaching me back home some more advanced stuff, since my Sharingan has activated, and then on top of that, the moves of the advanced courses, I no longer simply imitate motions I'd seen; I actually learned them and know how to utilize them.
Still, it wasn't quite the same without Minato training beside me. Ever since we'd been bumped into the advanced class, most of our sessions were separate from the others, taking place with the older kids, sometimes even two classes above us... As for Minato, he was probably already at home reviewing the jutsu scrolls we got, while I was out here punching solid wood.
"Haaah..." I exhaled, shaking my wrists, thinking that maybe I should do some Rock Lee-type stuff and add weights to my wrists and ankles.
"Renji!"
The sudden call broke my concentration, though, turning towards its breathless owner just in time to see Sayuri jogging toward me across the courtyard, her blonde hair swinging behind her in a ponytail.
"Hey," I waved lazily, "You lost Naoto again? I swear that guy disappears more than Minato does."
"No, I wasn't with him," She answered and didn't laugh or smile at me, which was the first red flag. Something was up, I could tell by just looking at her face.
Instead of her usual quippy mood, she stopped a few paces away, clutching her notebook to her chest, looking around, noticing that there was nobody else around, which made her... relax her shoulders. Weird. Her expression was all wrong, too, because her lips were pressed tight, her eyes flicking everywhere except mine... Wait... Am I going to get confessed?! Really? Not that I'm not happy about the fact, but... I didn't think that would happen... Ugh... Should I say no? Or yes? What should I do?!
"Whoa, okay." I straightened up, forcing my thoughts into order, preventing myself from suddenly speaking them out, stopping before I made an idiot out of myself. "What's up? Who died?" Genius... what a diversion... idiot.
"..." That earned me a slight glare, but, once again, not a smile. Hm... maybe this is not about a confession. Then what? "Can you... Just not joke for a second?"
"Uh-oh." I nodded, realizing I had been thinking about the wrong things... oops. "Serious tone. Got it..."
"You..." She sighed, brushing stray strands of hair behind her ear. "It's Arai. Your Uchiha cousin."
"We are not really blood related," I blurted out as I barely interacted with him besides the first year scuffle... And then he learned his place, I think. Or...?
"Just... listen, okay?" She looked at me, and I could tell she was super uncomfortable.
I felt my chest tighten a little... What was happening? Since the time Akira-sensei stopped me from decking him in the chest and probably causing him to get knocked out or worse, I hadn't seen much of him, and honestly? I was fine keeping it that way.
"What about him?" I asked carefully.
"Well..." Sayuri's voice dropped a little, stepping closer, looking around again, making sure it was just us, "He's… different lately. Ever since you and Minato got moved up, he's been acting like he owns the place. That guy is always bossing the weaker students around, bragging about how he's the strongest, being special even though there are others who could beat him up... Anyway...." She hesitated, eyes darting to the side, "He especially won't leave me alone, and I am running out of excuses to shake him off."
"Won't leave you alone as in…?"
"As in," she snapped at me all of a sudden, "he keeps 'checking in' on me after class! Shows up when I'm training, stands too close, calls me Sayuri-chan in that weird tone… Brrr!" She visibly shuddered, recalling that, "And when I tell him to stop, he laughs and says I'm just being shy!"
"Oh..." I blinked my eyes, almost laughing, but seeing how seriously she was taking it, I gulped it down. "Wow... That's… uh, yeah, that's definitely harassment territory...?"
"I told him I wasn't interested," she continued, the words spilling out of her mouth much faster now, as she began rambling, "but he doesn't listen. And the teachers don't take it seriously... They just say he's being immature... The frustrating thing is, he is better at taijutsu and ninjutsu than I am... So I can't just push him down... yet..."
"And he's been getting worse?" I asked, seeing this was indeed no joke, as her tone was pretty desperate.
"Yes. Today he..." she stopped, shaking her head, "Never mind. It's not important."
"Sayuri." I frowned, dropping all smiles, and reaching out, touching her shoulder, "If it was bad enough for you to come find me, it's important. Tell me. You already told me a lot; now I am involved."
"..." Her shoulders sagged a little, looking at me, biting her lower lip, "He said… that once we graduate, I should consider him first... Like he's already decided we're partners."
"Really?" I stared at her, waiting for the punchline that never came. "Well, whoa. And people call me overconfident..."
"You have some skill to back it up... sometimes... he doesn't."
"Yeah, I know," I said, raising both hands in surrender, "Sorry. Bad timing for jokes." Then I added more seriously, "Thanks for telling me, though."
"Why?" she asked, almost defensive, suddenly leaning back, trying to understand what I was meaning by it.
"Because you trust me enough to tell me." Then I shrugged, "Don't worry, I'll help you make him understand."
"..." For a moment, she didn't answer. Then, slowly, she said, "I didn't think you'd care... Maybe this wasn't a good idea, I just thought you were in the same clan and..."
"Whoa, whoa! Excuse me?" I pretended to be offended, my voice going shrill, "You wound me, Sayuri-chan! I happen to be a certified expert at caring!" I chuckled, seeing her face go red, thinking I was actually offended, "You thought it right, though. Arai and I are in the same clan, so... Yeah. I can do something about it, sure!"
"Don't! I just... had to... tell someone about it because it was getting really frustrating! Don't need to get into trouble, I can handle it!"
"True," I hummed, "You could. You are smart and technical... But you had already come to me, soooo... here's the deal. I'll walk you home today. You can fill me in on the details while we are doing so, and I'll make sure Captain Casanova doesn't follow you or nags you again."
"Captain... who? I don't know any shinobi named Casanova..."
"Details, details!" I grinned, then added, "Besides, if anyone deserves a dramatic escort after class, it's you. You actually put up with me when most don't. Sorry... I just... can't help myself."
"Yeah, I'm used to your weird antics," She rolled her eyes, but nodded, finally smiling honestly, "Fine. But if this turns into too much of a hassle, just take a step back. I will deal with it... I am going to be a kunoichi after all! I just..."
"Everyone has their moment of weakness," I said seriously, and she didn't answer, only nodding a little while I began picking up my stuff, including my kunai I used for training.
We left the courtyard together just as the sun began to dip lower on the horizon, heading under the treeline, painting the rooftops orange and gold. As we walked, Sayuri kept talking, mostly about how things changed in the regular class after Minato and I got pulled ahead, and how Arai, after a brief struggle for the top position, lost out to Shinrai Hyūga, who now became the number one in their class. Still, the Hyūga kid didn't really care about it much, so after Arai managed to clean himself up, he began strutting around like a self-appointed leader, and Naoto just ignored the drama, just like all the other kids who could beat him down. Then, some of the younger boys, who were weaker, started copying Arai's behavior, as the lowest of the groups either flocked to him or were pressed into being under him, boosting his head to twice its size.
"He's got this weird kind of influence," she explained, "The teachers keep him in check during class, but once it's over, he's everywhere. He hangs around the gates, the training fields… As if he owns the place. Like... he is waiting for something..."
"Waiting for what?" I asked, making her moan, holding her head.
"For his Sharingan to awaken and be able to peep on the girls changing! I don't know!" She groaned, revealing how frustrated she really was, even mixing up the abilities of the Sharingan and the Byakugan.
"Ah, a creep... Already? Huh... he starts it early, huh?" I muttered.
"I heard that some in the Hyūga-clan are promised away at this age... I don't know how it is in yours..." She muttered, making me twitch my lips.
"Nothing like that..." I answered, "I swear."
But true... I am not surprised, not in a world where twelve-year-olds can become genin and then go on missions... And fight. And kill. Ugh... Now, thinking about it from that perspective, yeah... this is a bit... much. Still, we kept walking, and by the time we reached the village's main street, dusk had deepened into my favorite color, into a purplish twilight. Haah... I usually looked at it through my Sharingan when I could, because... it was even more beautiful that way.
"You know," I said, "this feels kinda nice. Like those old slice-of-life chapters before the plot gets dark."
"Huh?" Sayuri blinked her eyes, "What?"
"Uh..." I groaned, wanting to cry as I spoke again, without thinking, "Nothing. Just pondering aloud about life and stuff... Don't worry about it."
"You read weird books...Don't you? Minato once asked me if I had ever heard about... what was it? Icha Icha, was it? Or something... he wanted to buy it for you as a birthday gift... But we didn't find anything like that."
"Really...?" I froze, realizing that I spoke about it in passing, yet... he caught it?! Damn it... he is too smart for his own good!
"Yeah... Anyway... Why am I not surprised?" She gave me a questioning look, but she let it slide in the end. "You really are weird sometimes, Renjiro."
"Only sometimes?" I feigned disappointment, wanting to drop the topic. Damn it... that was too close! "I'm losing my touch."
"Trust me," she said dryly, stifling a laugh, "you're plenty strange."
For a while, it almost felt like a typical walk home, and I nearly forgot there was a reason she'd sought me out in the first place... Well, almost, because as we turned off the main road into a quieter, narrower lane, I felt it. That faint prickling at the back of my neck, the kind that told you that you weren't alone anymore. Yeah... Someone was watching us. I stopped mid-step, pretending to adjust my sandal while my chakra stirred just slightly, enough for my Sharingan to come online and for me to scan the surroundings before turning it off. There he was... On the rooftops, a hundred meters back.
"Something wrong?" Sayuri asked softly, noticing my change in pace.
"Nah." I forced a smile, "Just thought I saw a stray cat that had a missing poster up. It would be a decisive move if I could complete a Genin-level quest while in the Academy, no?"
"I could see you and Minato try something stupid like that," She chuckled and didn't question it, but her eyes flicked around all the same. She wasn't stupid... she caught it easily and knew I was just making an excuse because I didn't want her to worry... that I didn't like the unease creeping into her movements.
"..." When we reached the small bridge that crossed the stream near her neighborhood, leading into the Yamanaka clan's streets, Sayuri exhaled, her body relaxing, turning towards me. "Thanks, Renji... And I mean it. I didn't think just talking about it would help, but it did. So... don't worry anymore, okay? I am feeling better already."
"Hey, that's what friends are for," I said, shoving my hands into my pockets. "But if he keeps bothering you, you come find me, got it? We may only have been in a team once, but we are still teammates, okay?"
"Got it." She smiled at me, and it looked real this time. "Goodnight, Renji."
"Night, Sayuri." I nodded at her and I watched her cross the bridge, her silhouette fading away with every step. Only when she was gone did I finally turn back the way we had come... and, of course, there he was.
Arai Uchiha stood at the edge of the alleyway, right where I would cut through the streets to get to the Uchiha's part of town, his eyes locked on me.
"...Arai." I smiled at him without any fear whatsoever.
Heh, no surprise there that he didn't answer. He just tilted his head slightly, the faintest smirk twisting across his lips. Oh...? Feeling brave, aren't we...? And I soon realized why. It seems he wasn't alone, as I could sense multiple others appearing, not Uchihas but... kids. Really now...?
"Well," I looked at the five in total, feeling myself smiling, "I hoped you would do something stupid."