Chapter Text
Itadakimasu
One
Academy
Chokasho and Choji enrolled in the Academy at six-years-old. It was the beginning of the rest of their lives.
“Oh, my sweet dumplings are growing up so fast!” Their Kaachan exclaimed, beaming tearfully as the twins dug into the large portions of food she’d made them for breakfast, although Chokasho traded two of her tamagoyaki for her Aniki’s hourensou-no-gomaae. She loved the spinach salad, with it’s sesame dressing, and she could spare two of her little omelette-rolls for the extra veggie.
“Kaachan, of course we’re growing!” Chokasho declared, grinning up at her mother as she finished swallowing another spoonful of her miso soup. “You make such delicious food, how can we not grow fast?” Her mother beamed while Choji and their Touchan grinned as well, the boy nodding happily.
“The faster we grow, the more food we’ll get!” He declared dreamily, making Chokasho giggle.
“Oh, both of you,” their mother cooed, bustling off towards the kitchen to grab their already prepared bentos. Their Touchan ruffled their hair, already done eating his own meal, and nimbly stole a bite of Chokasho’s shiozake, grinning as the girl gasped in outrage and tried to steal the bite of salted salmon back. Choji wasn’t safe either, as he promptly had his umeboshi-onigiri stolen and devoured.
“Touchan!” The twins complained, making the large man laugh loudly, a full-bellied laugh that had the two six-year-olds grinning and laughing as well soon enough, as Choza scooped the two of them up and pulled them into a tight hug, pressing a tender kiss to first Choji’s forehead, then to Chokasho’s.
“You two are going to grow into fine, strong Shinobi,” he told them both warmly, beaming proudly down at them with confidence. “I love you both, more than anything in this world or the next,” he told them sincerely, dark eyes glittering with happy tears before they squinted closed under the force of his grin. “Come, now, eat! The Academy will make you hungry if you’re not quick!”
“Hai, Touchan!” The twins declared, scooting off their father’s lap and back to their seats, stuffing what food remained into their mouths until their cheeks bulged like chipmunks, sending their father into raucous laughter once more, their mother joining when she returned to find them trying to pout at Choza only to look twice as poofy.
Chokasho forced her mouthful of food down carefully, gulping down a drink of her water, and couldn’t help beaming at her parents. Truly, despite the vague memories and knowledge of Laura floating around her head, she couldn’t have been happier with this family.
................
Chokasho enjoyed the first few days of the Academy. Their teacher, Tanaka-Sensei, was a friendly, cheerful man with dark blue hair and equally dark blue eyes who made the stretches and running exercises seem like a game. He helped them with their hand-signs and praised them easily, encouraging the all happily.
But Chokasho was quick to notice that he wasn’t equally nice. He was nicer to the Clan kids than the Civilians, for example. And nicer to the Civilian Clan kids than the orphans.
But he was especially, noticeably, nicer to everyone compared to one, particular, orphan.
Uzumaki Naruto had bright blond hair that was very spiky and almost always kinda dirty. His eyes were bright blue, and his skin deep tan, and he had whisker-like marks on his cheeks. And, when he wasn’t yelling about how he was going to be Hokage, or about how boring Tanaka-Sensei was, or just being loud because, he was blank-eyed and grim and glaring at nothing in particular. He was scrawny, dirty, and sad.
And the fact that Tanaka-Sensei saw fit to scold him, to ignore him, to push him around when he thought no one was looking or let the other kids do it, it upset Chokasho, made that temper that boiled in her stomach rise up like a stepped-on cat, hissing and spitting and claws coming out.
It was on their fifth day at the Academy that Chokasho snapped at her teacher when he scolded Naruto for disrupting the class when he asked, loudly (almost everything about Naruto was loud. Loud and bright and look-at-me, and it made Laura rise up more and more, whispers of things like neglect and abandoned and stray cat. The resulting headaches did absolutely nothing to help Chokasho’s temper) about what Chakra was and how it made Jutsu,
“He’s not disrupting anything, Tanaka-Sensei,” she finally snapped, cheeks puffing out as her hands turned to fists around her bag of beef-jerky, which she hadn’t even had the stomach to open today, temper and headache hard and hot beneath her skin, neck and shoulders aching from tension. “It’s a good question! What, exactly is Chakra? How does it work? Where does it come from? It’s not a bad question!” She declared, glowering up at the frowning Chunin (Why was it always a Chunin that made her Temper rise?).
“Akimichi-chan, you won’t go over Chakra until next year,” he told her, trying to calm her down, but that just incensed her further, the bag in her hands beginning to tear as she struggled not to snarl, bruise-colored paisleys standing out as her eyes squinted shut and her puffed up cheeks flushed angrily.
“Then why didn’t you tell him that?!” She demanded. “Why not jus’ answer him, instead of scolding him for asking, like he’s not supposed to ask?!”
“Akimichi-chan—” he tried to interrupt; Chokasho wasn’t having it.
“Why do you always single him out, huh?!” She snapped, glaring. “You’re our teacher! So why do you not wanna teach Uzumaki anything?! Shame on you!” Now Tanaka-Sensei was flushed red.
“Enough!” He shouted, startling everyone but Chokasho, who jumped to her feet, dropping her bag to put her fists on her hips and puff up even bigger.
“No, it’s not enough!” she shouted right back furiously, feeling like her whole body was going to start steaming from how angry she was. “I want answers! I wanna know why you’re being pre-prejudiced against Uzumaki, against all the orphans and civilian-born students, and don’t say you aren’t 'cause you are!” That seemed to be the final straw, however, because Tanaka-Sensei moved and grabbed her by the scruff, her dark blue vest and pink shirt straining lightly against her weight as he stomped out of the room and dropped her roughly on the floor.
“You will stay out here until you’re ready to sit down and pay attention to class, Akimichi-chan,” he snapped, stepping back and shutting the door with a sharp click. Incensed, Chokasho hissed at the door, feeling her body instinctively start to bulk up as her Chakra, weak and small as it was, burbled and boiled under her skin at her anger. There was a fire in her belly, in her chest, in her throat, like a volcano waiting to burst, molten lava-temper boiling through her veins and making her jaw ache from how hard she was clenching it.
Furious, she spun on heel and ran as fast and as hard as she could, head down and eyes gleaming wrathfully as she bulldozed forward. She didn’t care that she actually broke through the Academy doors in an explosion of splinters and metal and even a few chunks of stone that was ripped away. She ignored the cuts that stung on her face and the pieces of rubble that clung to her hair and clothes as she ran, pink sandals kicking up a trail of dust as she darted towards the direction she could vaguely feel the warm, protective well of her Touchans Chakra.
She couldn’t feel everything or everyone, not like her cousin Chomaru’s girlfriend could, but, if she knew you well enough, Chokasho could find you anywhere within a large area, no matter what.
Which is how she finds her Touchan, fifteen minutes of non-stop running later, body still bulked out a good four inches in every direction and angry Chakra crackling around her fingers, in one of the Jounin Lounges, panting in the doorway and scowling fit enough to crack stone.
“Dumpling?” Choza asked, startled, as he gets up and moves away from where he’d been talking amicably with a heavily scarred, intimidating-looking Jounin with a duster and a bandana.
“Touchan, I won’t take it, I won’t!” she snapped, stomping one foot and ignoring the way the stone beneath it cracked badly, temper well and truly enveloping her.
“Easy, easy, Dumpling,” her Touchan soothed, kneeling and settling his hands tenderly on her shoulders. “Deep breaths, just like Inoichi said, remember? Deep breath in, slow breath out, shrink down, sweetness.” Huffing out a short breath, Chokasho impatiently obeyed, taking a huge breath in and letting it out slowly, carefully, and repeated it until her muscles released their angry Chakra and she was back to normal size, her clothes a little looser after the steady strain, but they’d return to normal size soon enough.
They were Akimichi-clothes, after all.
“Good,” Choza praised kindly. “Now, tell me what happened. Did someone say something mean again?” Chokasho huffed, glowering irritably, not liking how fast her temper was already starting to settle into a low simmer instead of its raging fury.
“Tanaka-Sensei is being a jerk,” she told her father firmly, scowling. “He’s treating the Civilian kids like they’re in, um, inferior,” she said, stumbling over the only vaguely familiar sounding word, frowning. “And he’s treating the orphan kids like they’re doomed to drop out, an', an' worse than that, he’s treating the Uzumaki kid like he’s already dropped out and is too stupid to know it!” Chokasho huffed, folding her arms irritably as she eyes her Touchan.
“Uzumaki?” he asked carefully; Chokasho nodded sharply.
“He’s the orphan blond kid, the one who’s always loud,” she told him firmly. “Well, see, he’s always asking questions, you know? Trying to learn about this or that, like, like yesterday, he asked why only Chunin were teachers, and why only Jounin taught Genin and if the Hokage could teach teams while being Hokage, ya know? And Tanaka-Sensei kicked him out of the class for disturbing the lesson. But, when Suzuki Ayame asked almost the same thing, he answered her question. And, then today, today Uzumaki was asking about Chakra, and Tanaka-Sensei was scolding him, and I just got angry and told him not to yell at Uzumaki, ‘cause it was a good question and why couldn’t he just answer it,” she took a deep, gulping breath as her muscles started tensing again, hands in fists at her sides and cheeks still flushed as she held her Touchan’s eyes.
“It’s not fair to ignore Uzumaki’s questions, he hasn’t done anything! He’s in the Academy to learn, Touchan, ‘cause he wants to be a Shinobi and protect the Village! Just like me an’ Aniki! An’ an’, when I asked Tanaka-Sensei the same question, he answered me! But, but then, when I yelled at him for not just answering Uzumaki, he was yellin’ back, and then he scooped me up and dumped me in the hallway until I was ‘ready to sit down and pay attention’,” she mocked in her most nasally voice, bitterness edging it as she snorted, puffing air out her nose with a heavy, angry sulk. “How’m I supposed to trust a teacher that won’t teach even one of us jus’ ‘cause, Touchan?” she finally asked, shoulders slumping unhappily. “An', an' how'm I supposed to trust that he's teachin' the rest of us the right things? What if, what if he doesn't teach us somethin' important, just 'cause he doesn't want Uzumaki or the Civilian kids to learn it?” The anger was cooling now, leaving an aching chill in her shoulders that made her slump tiredly, rage melting into disappointment and sorrow and tired, tired eyes as she looked at her Touchan.
“...I won't have it, Touchan,” she told him quietly. “I won't stand for someone who's supposed ta be responsible for us, for makin' us all into Shinobi, for the good of the village, decidin' he doesn't want us to learn just 'cause.” Touchan stroked her hair, gently pulling pieces of stone and wood from her spiky mess, making she nose crinkle a little bit as dust fell onto her shoulders.
“I'll see what I can do, Dumpling,” he told her, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead, before scooping her up into his arms and walking away. Chokasho sighed, leaning her cheek against his large shoulder, wincing as scratches were pressed. Behind him, in the Jounin Lounge, the large, scarred man in black was blank-faced and darkly considering.
..................
Tanaka-Sensei had been taken away by a couple Jounin, and no one had seen him since then. The new Sensei, Kimura-Sensei, was bald, black-eyed, and had a sharp, no-nonsense attitude. He didn't accept disrespect from anyone, handed out study-assignments and Chakra Exercises as punishment, and was quick to shut down any playing or rough-housing. He was “mean” but...
But he answered everyone's questions. He treated the Civilian and Clan kids the same. He gave you punishment no matter who your family was. He made sure everyone understood, or at least kept up, with a subject before changing it.
Everyone in class (minus Aniki, Shika, Ino, and a few other Clan kids) was mad at Chokasho for “tattling” and making fun, nice Tanaka-Sensei get sent away, but she didn't care. Kimura-Sensei, despite being mean, was so much better, and she wouldn't take back anything!
...Except breaking the Academy doors. Her Kaachan made her fix them, with the help of a Genin Team, and she had had to write a long essay about why she shouldn't break doors when angry. In kanji. To the Hokage.
Kaachans could be scary.
..................
Chokasho frowned as she eyed the boulder her cousin Chodai had been carrying around the Clan Grounds. He'd been doing it for weeks now, and, she remembered how at first he hadn't been able to do more than a handful of careful, stumbling steps at a time. Now he hefted it up onto his shoulders as if it was her, smugly-pleased and bright-eyed.
She wanted to try it, but the parts of her head that were Laura said pace yourself. Hazy images of a hound dog puppy trying to chase birds with fumbling, staggering steps, morphing into a large dog who could race horses with grace. Baby steps, Laura coached, and, like usual, Chokasho decided to agree.
Instead of trying to pick up the boulder, she hunted down a rock that was almost the size of her head. It wasn't hard to pick it up, cradling it to her chest like a watermelon, but...
But Chodai-nii carried the boulder on his shoulders, so, she would too.
Holding the rock up on her shoulders wasn't hard either, but only at first. As she walked around the Compound, however, her muscles began to hurt steadily, straining against the unfamiliar weight, and this must be what Chodai-nii had been feeling only, like, a hundred times worse.
She carried the rock for hours, until her arms were weak as watered-down tea and trembling faintly. She then set the rock next to Chodai-nii's boulder, patting it gently before hunting down a snack.
The next day, her arms felt like they'd be kneaded like bread, but Chodai-nii was waiting next to his boulder and her rock, grinning brightly, the pale blue spots lining the bottom of his eyes making them look brighter.
“Are you ready to train with me, little cousin?” He'd asked, and Chokasho suddenly didn't care that she had been going to hunt for four-leaf clovers anymore, because she wanted to train with her cousin more than anything now.
“Hai!” She chirped, ignoring her aching arms and shoulders, and hefting the rock up onto her shoulders the same time Chodai did.
“Let's go, then!” He laughed, and began to jog, making Chokasho huff as she followed him. As the training went on, however, Chodai continued jogging steadily, and Chokasho struggled, hard, to keep up with him, dripping sweat and red-faced with exertion.
“Maybe we should stop for a little while, hmm?” Chodai suggested when they paused to drink water and share a couple rice balls. Immediately, Laura and Chokasho's competitive streak roared.
“No way, Niisan!” She declared fiercely, scowling. “I'm gonna keep up, no matter what!” Chodai hesitated, smiling a little, bemused.
“Don't push yourself too hard, little cousin,” he told her firmly. “We'll continue, but we'll be stopping in an hour, no matter what, understand?” Huffing, cheeks puffed up with her ire, Chokasho nodded.
“Okay,” she agreed reluctantly, and that's exactly what they did, one hour more of jogging, and, by the end of it, Chokasho was staggering. The pause for a snack had ruined her, making tense muscles relax and exhaustion edge through her. Groaning from where she lay on the ground next to her rock, she valiantly tried not to pout as Chodai-nii laughed warmly, carefully setting his Boulder next to her.
“Same time tomorrow, Little Cousin!” He told her cheerfully; Chokasho lifted her head to stare at him disbelievingly. “Unless you think you'll be too tired?” he asked, and although he meant it in genuine concern and consideration, Chokasho felt a fire light in her belly and scowled at him.
“You're on, Chodai-nii!” She shouted, forcing her trembling arms to lift her up, settling on her knees to point right at her older cousin's bemused face. “I'm gonna work so hard that I'll be carrying your rock like it's a pebble before I graduate, just you watch!” Laughing, Chodai helped her to her feet.
“If you say so, little cousin,” he said amicably, but Chokasho scowled.
She would do it, she could do it, and she would prove it.
And so, every day, right after Academy, Chokasho and Chodai carried their rocks around the Clan Compound for exactly two-and-a-half hours.
And that was only the beginning.
................
“Come on, Chokasho!” Ino whined, dragging the larger girl through the crowded street impatiently.
“Where are we even going, Ino?” Chokasho asked, exasperated as they ducked under a pair of Genin carrying a couch.
“Aki-chan heard from Misa-chan, who heard from her brother Ken, who ran into Taro-kun and Saito-kun, who told him that Watari-san had just told them, that Sasuke-kun is swimming, without his shirt on, at the Suzuki Family pond!” She squealed, blue eyes bright, and, immediately, Chokasho dug her feet it, all but yanking Ino off her feet from the sudden halt.
“Lemme get this straight,” she started, staring disbelievingly at the other girl. “You just dragged me away from free dango, so we can go stare at a boy who doesn't even care about you, just 'cause he's shirtless?!” she demanded; Ino huffed, letting go of her wrist to rest her hands on her hips and scowl at Chokasho.
“Sasuke-kun cares!” She snapped, affronted. “He's just a quiet soul, Chokasho! He likes to watch the world around him, always ready to jump in and save someone...” She trailed off dreamily, sighing; Chokasho stared, deadpan.
“He ain't a quiet soul, Ino,” she stated blandly. “It's called being' antisocial. Inoichi-ojisan worked in interrogation, Ino, I know you know what an introvert is, and how constant starin' an' crowdin' makes them unhappy and uncomfortable! So why are you doing that?!” Ino huffed and rolled her eyes, scowling at Chokasho.
“You're just jealous 'cause Sasuke-kun won't ever look at you like he looks at me~!” She declared meanly; Chokasho rolled her eyes.
“What, like I'm a cockroach on his bedroom wall?” She snapped back; Ino reared back with an offended hiss and whirled around, hands curled in tight fists and back to Chokasho.
“Fine then!” She shouted, storming away. “If you're going to be like that, then we're not friends anymore!” Chokasho frowned, watching Ino stomp off.
“Fine,” she said quietly, looking away. “It's not like you're givin' up on years of friendship for a boy you've only known three months,” she muttered quietly, turning away. Shoving her hands into the pockets of her dark blue shorts, she kicked a pebble moodily and wandered away.
She didn't see what was so special about Uchiha Sasuke. Sure, he was smart and he was good at Taijutsu and throwing Kunai and Shuriken, but he was crap at talking to people. He brooded and sulked and moved around so that he was as far away from people as possible, and the only person she'd ever seen him smile at was his big brother, Uchiha Itachi, who was so much more awesome in her opinion. But every girl her age was just swarming the boy.
They didn't care about him, though. The Civilian Clan girls were all giggly about the fact he was an Uchiha. The Clan girls were giggly about the fact he was the Spare Uchiha as Heir Itachi was 'unreachable'. The Orphan girls were giggly about his looks.
Not one of them seemed to care that he did not like people! They didn't care at all! They just kept cornering him and swarming him and fighting over him and Chokasho would not fall for that stupidity! She didn't even understand why they were so obsessed in the first place, to be honest. She could admire his work ethics, in a way, because he worked so hard because he wanted to make his family proud, she could get behind that, but besides that? She just didn't understand the appeal.
He had black hair, dark eyes, and pale skin. The other girls all squealed about how cute and handsome he was, but, she just, well.
He just looked normal to her?
She actually thought Haruno Sakura, with her bright pink hair and pretty green eyes, was much prettier and better looking than Sasuke. And Nakamura Senri, a girl two years older, with her caramel-colored hair and chocolate colored eyes, was beautiful. And, and she shared mochi with her! Sure, she tended to complain about her little sister, Himari, and how she could beat her older brother, Sora, if she really wanted to, but, hey, Chokasho didn't mind.
But, anyways, yeah. Chokasho didn't understand the total fixation her classmates had, especially at the expense of the young Uchiha. If something made someone uncomfortable, then, outside of a fight or something, you shouldn't do it. She'd learned, as Laura, that people had limits. Emotional, physical, mental, all of them could be pushed to breaking point easily. Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, or the right thing at the wrong time, could irreparably damage someone.
And Chokasho?
She interfered when she could, she tried to reason with her classmates, but, no matter what she said, it was taken as jealousy or something else.
She didn't have many friends, anymore.
And now she had one less.
Sighing lowly, she kicked another pebble and kept walking.
................
The first time she see's him, he's just a bright colored blur that darts past her on the street, kicking up a dust trail, and she's startled, but willing to ignore him.
But then he passes her again. And again. And again. And then...
He's impossible to ignore.