A strange new life

5.7

Years of partial isolation and unusual communication methods left me at a loss on how to approach the local kids. Did they know how to read? Should I just approach, write on my board and demand they tell me all the rumors around? The things adults thought kids wouldn’t know or understand?

I looked between the kids and the boring conversation Hayase was a part of. Considered if I should really approach the locals.

Why was I hesitating? When did I become this timid?

I steeled my resolve. Tapped Hayase’s arm. Pointed at the kids when he looked. Got a nod from the chunin. I got this. It was just a bunch of kids. I was a strong, independent kunoichi. I knew how to interact with people, I knew how to charm people. I knew how to extract information from people. It was a class subject in the third year of the academy. My grades were almost top of the class on that one. I can do this. No backwater peasant would scare me into timidness.

…

I approached the group of huddled kids. It drew some attention, but it wasn’t until I was right by their side that they became aware of my presence. I flipped the board I had been carrying under my arm, and under the curious gaze of the small crowd, I wrote. “Hello! I’m Hinata. Is there anything fun to do around here?”

The gathered kids were what you would expect from a small town. The boys had an assortment of gray, browns and earthen tones: loose-fitting coats and pants, simple sandals made of straw. One of the five boys also wore those socks with separated toes, tabi. Another one barefooted. The barefooted one was also the biggest of the lot, with worse looking clothes, a crooked nose, and a nasty smile. The leering grin she shot my way earned him the name of Jerkface.

Among the small crowd of boys, there were two girls. One was as thin as a bean pole, tall and long faced. Sun tanned skin, pockmarked with acne and smeared with a few spots of dirt. The second girl looked younger than me, maybe nine or ten, dressed in fancy looking and colored clothes. She wore the full regalia: a light pink kimono, the skirt-like hakama, the wide sash over the kimono, the toed socks and wooden sandals.

It wasn’t a surprise when the gathered kids turned to the smaller, better dressed girl and stared at her. The younger girl looked around, wide eyes, almost as if looking for an escape route. She stammered her way through reading what I wrote. Poor girl.

That had been normal enough. A bit of back and forth later, and off we went to another area, towards the place the kids usually gathered. It was a few streets away from the main trading area, in the more run down and old looking parts of the town. None of the other adults paid us any attention. I guess that no one cared what the brats were up to, as long as no one left the town’s protective walls.

Our destination was something like an abandoned hut, maybe a shed, I wasn’t sure. Medieval Japanese architecture wasn’t my forte. For all its stylized charm, Konoha looked more like a modern city when compared to these rural villages. I was eager to dive into all the gossip and rumors and other info kids were wont to know. My surprise then, when two ‘factions’ among the gathered crowd, started bickering to see who would ‘get’ the ‘new girl’.

Worse yet, the small kid, which everyone called Linlin got thrown into the mess, by virtue of being the only one among the brats that could read. Her scared demeanor and wide frantic eyes wasn’t what pissed me off, however. The big barefooted jerk, that I refused to learn the name of, by virtue of being the tallest — and probably oldest of the lot — kept trying to declare me ‘his new girl’. Dirty arm trying to snake around my waist, ignoring all the times I pushed it off me, or walked away from him. Worse yet, he kept staring at my face, breathing noxious fumes at me.

I don’t know where the idea came from when I decided to talk with the locals. In my mind, I’d approach the kids, insta-join their clique, be told all the secrets and rumors regarding the boring adults and town news. Well, that wasn’t what happened. Although it started simple enough.

I closed my eyes. Took deep breaths. Regretted immediately. A shudder started from my toes up to my neck, stomach roiling in disgust. Don’t even know why I was even nervous before coming here to meet them. Dumb brats will be dumb brats.

Jerkface tried to put his arm around my waist again and I had enough of this bullshit. I stepped around him, kicked his legs. Kicked him on the sides while he fell. Might have put a bit more force than necessary. Jerkface cried out, curling into a fetal position, hands holding his side where I kicked him. The arguing stopped immediately. I looked at the wide eyed and open mouthed brats, already regretting my lack of restraint. The kid was annoying, but I could have just left, no need to hurt the brat. I was supposed to act like a normal kid, dammit. 

Linlin, however, looked at me with stars in her eyes. Interesting.

Nothing for it. I walked forward, grabbed poor Linlin’s hand, and gently pulled her away from the stunned kids, back toward the town’s center. Pulling her away from the group might be even worse for her, but I wasn’t willing to leave the girl behind. What if Jerkface decided to take revenge or something silly like that? And her reaction was strange. Not everyone got excited when a potential ninja did ninja things.

Linlin didn’t resist. It’d be pretty embarrassing if she did. She was more than eager to follow. Her hand gripped mine and didn’t want to let go. Even after I tried to release it a few times. We had just gone past the earshot of the other kinds when the supposedly timid girl opened the floodgates.

“You’re like Sasame-chan, right? She is like you as well. So fast! I couldn’t even see you move, how did you do it? So cool.”

I glanced at Linlin. If before I thought I saw stars in her eyes, now it was whole galaxies. Sasame, that name sounded familiar, even if I couldn’t place it. The kid didn’t seem to notice my confusion.

“She’s like, super strong as well, and not afraid to boss that big bully around.” Her face fell, and her voice lost a bit of fervor. “He’s been so annoying ever since they left.”

My kunoichi-y senses tingled. I knelt in front of Linlin, tugged at her hands gently, coaching her to release me. When I was free, I took my board, wrote on it. “Where did they go?” I didn’t know yet who ‘they’ were, but I was about to find out.

“Sasame-chan wouldn’t tell me.” The girl pouted. Kicked at the ground. Looked away. “Clan secrets.”

Instead of taking Linlin back into the market proper, I took a turn toward one small park-like area I’d seen when moving with the other brats. There was this charming wooden bench made from a fallen tree, and a few other rustic looking tables. I sat, and Linlin did the same. I considered what to do. After thinking about it for a bit, I wrote on my board.

“You promise to keep this a secret?”

The girl nodded. Head bobbing up and down so fast I could barely keep with her movements. It was kinda cute.

I took one of my mini seals from the pouch on my skirt waistband. Under the kid’s curious gaze, I placed it on the table and my finger on the center of the seal. There was a puff of smoke, a gasp from the kid, and out popped an assortment of cupcakes, sweets, and pastries. As well as a thermos with tea. The surprised squeal from Linlin when she saw the sweets brought a smile to my face.

I took my board again, wrote for the girl. “Eat, and tell me everything about Sasame-chan.”