IM Tales ch3

Chapter 3: Oddity


Shuu was always considered odd by normal ninja standards, but she’d always known that.  Her upbringing had been less than traditional, after all, and her parents had never been considered typical.  They hadn’t been surprised when she showed an interest in fighting, but they had been surprised when she’d chosen to go into the Konoha Academy instead of staying home and learning the styles of her parents.  It shouldn’t really have been that much of a surprise to them – she knew their training styles were a bit, er, odd to say the least.

So, her mother brought her to Konoha, registered her in the Academy, and rented a small apartment there, while her father stayed in Wave and continued to run the family store.  Sometimes, he would visit them during the year, the unmistakable sound of his geta clacking loudly on the stairs to the apartment.  Most summers, they would go home to Wave and she would spend the time working in the store or trying to get dragonflies to land on her hand.  She would often tell her father about all the things she’d done while she was away and explain stuff like jutsu and chakra to him when he asked about it.

Shuu didn’t always say things right and not everything at the Academy was the same as it was back home, much to her embarrassment.  But she was a good student, read all the books and was the fastest kid in the whole Academy every year to her mother’s delight.  When she finally graduated, her father joined them in Konoha and her parents toasted her success together.

The next day, her father asked, “What do you plan to do now?”

She told him she planned to stay.

He smiled pleasantly, as though he’d known all along, and asked if she wanted him to put her forehead protector on her favorite hat for her.

Later that night, the sixth Hokage died and, by morning, everyone in the village knew.  He was one of the greatest heroes of their nation and the grandfather of one of her classmates, the prankster and all-around class-clown Minoru.  She knew her classmate adored his grandfather beyond words and was always sneaking out of classes to go and spend time with him.  She’d seen them both at the ramen stand, chattering away from time to time.

“It must be hitting him hard, this friend of yours,” her father said, taking off his striped bucket hat.  “I’ll take you to go see him.”

They walked together in the direction of her classmate’s home – Shuu in her mourning clothes and her father in a black kosode and black hakama, his usual geta exchanged for tabi and hemp sandals.

Finally, she spotted her classmate up on a roof and her father merely smiled, nudging her in the direction of the boy as he headed towards the front door of the house.  Shuu nodded in determination and bounded up to the roof.

Minoru sat there, staring off at the Hokage monument in the distance.  He didn’t look up at her or acknowledge her presence, so she simply sat down next to him.

“I miss him already,” he said at last, breaking the silence.  “He was supposed to be invincible, you know?”

Shuu nodded.  She’d heard a lot about him.

There was another long silence.

“He liked pranks, didn’t he?” Shuu asked, fidgeting.

Minoru laughed.  “Yeah! They say he defaced the monument as child and fled all the jounin and ANBU in the village for hours before he allowed himself to be caught.”

“Let’s do it,” Shuu said.  “Let’s give him a send-off prank.”

The boy stared blankly at her for a moment and then slowly broke into that familiar cheeky grin he got before he did one of his pranks.  He stood and then pulled her to her feet, saying he knew where they kept lots of paint and all the rope they’d need to pull it off.  Then they were off, dashing across roofs towards places only her classmate really bothered to explore, and on their way to getting in huge trouble.

They spent the better part of an hour painting every face on the monument except his grandfather’s and then collapsed in a heap at the top.  They both knew, sooner or later, someone would notice and they’d both be in heaps of trouble, but Minoru no longer seemed to be so sad and that was good in Shuu’s book, since he just didn’t look right without his smile.

As they sat there, Minoru suddenly pointed.  “Hey, look at that butterfly, Shuu!”

A great white butterfly was fluttering through the air towards them, its wings glowing in the darkness.

“I’ve never seen one like that,” the boy said, watching it with interest as it circled closer.

Shuu hummed, fingering the skull charm on her hair tie.  “They say butterflies are the embodiment of souls.”

“Really?” he asked, as it landed on his head.

She nodded.  In the shadows of the tree line, she could see her father watching, out of breath and leaning heavily on his cane.

Minoru smiled and then gasped, startled as the butterfly suddenly vanished.

That night, she knew, unquestionably, that Minoru would become Hokage one day and that she would follow him.

...Of course, explaining that to her parents was a horse of an entirely different color.  In the end, it had been another three years before her parents finally understood why she’d follow the grandson of such a troublesome soul.

Minoru did anything he believed he could.  He made her believe she could do anything she could, even pass training with her parents.  He brought back Raisei, their infuriatingly tragic but much missed teammate, when no one else could (and indeed, Shuu had some choice words with said infuriatingly tragic sop when he finally got the stones to apologize for his absolute stupidity).  Minoru had that same gift his grandfather did – the one that inspired the best in people.

“Hey, Shuu,” he called, from the corner of her parent’s shop.  “Is this candy?”

Shuu kicked him, square in the back of his orange and black jacket.  “Don’t eat the merchandise, you idiot!”

“Man, so cruel!” he moaned theatrically.  “And I even bought you another one of those luck charms you like!  Though, I can see why your mom and pop were surprised – skulls aren’t exactly that popular.”

Yeah, Shuu knew she was odd.

But, then again, Minoru was hardly a normal ninja either and that made all the difference.