Chapter Eight — Mei
Three years had changed Ren.
When he had first arrived in the outer district, he had been a frightened four-year-old who cried whenever his stomach hurt and still believed his father might come back.
At seven, Ren cried less.
He asked fewer questions.
And he had learned that sometimes silence was more useful than words.
He had grown taller, though he was still smaller than many children his age. His hair had become messier, usually because he refused to let his mother cut it properly. His clothes were plain, often patched, but they were clean.
The biggest change, however, was in his eyes.
Ren watched people.
He watched everyone.
He noticed the shopkeeper who smiled at customers but became irritated whenever someone asked for a discount.
He noticed the old woman who complained constantly but always gave extra food to hungry children.
He noticed his mother pretending she wasn't tired.
He noticed Kimiko thinking whenever she became quiet.
Ren didn't always understand what he noticed.
But he remembered it.
Three years earlier, the strange feeling inside his head had frightened him.
Now it had become familiar.
Sometimes, when someone was angry, Ren could feel it before they spoke.
Sometimes he could sense fear.
Sometimes sadness.
It wasn't like hearing words.
It was more like standing near someone and suddenly knowing that something was wrong.
His mother had told him never to speak about it outside their home.
So Ren didn't.
He kept it to himself.
He had also started becoming interested in shinobi.
Not because his father had been one.
Not because he wanted the Yamanaka clan to notice him.
He simply watched the shinobi of Konoha whenever they passed through the streets.
He watched how they moved.
How they carried themselves.
How quickly they reacted.
How people made way for them.
Ren wondered what it would feel like to be able to move like that.
One afternoon, he found himself at a small playground near the edge of the district.
The playground wasn't much.
A wooden swing.
A worn slide.
A few pieces of equipment that had seen better years.
But children gathered there every afternoon.
Ren usually stayed near the edge.
He liked watching.
There was less trouble that way.
He sat on a low wooden wall, observing a group of children playing.
One boy ran too fast around the slide and crashed into another child.
"Watch where you're going!"
The boy laughed.
"Make me."
A fight seemed ready to begin.
Ren sighed.
He didn't want to be involved.
He was about to leave when a girl climbed onto the top of the slide and shouted,
"Hey!"
Everyone looked up.
She was about his age.
Dark hair tied loosely behind her head.
A small bandage covered one knee.
She grinned.
"Race me!"
The two boys immediately forgot their argument.
"Race you where?"
"To the tree!"
She pointed to a large tree at the other end of the playground.
"Last one there loses."
The children ran.
Ren watched them.
The girl was fast.
Not the fastest, but she moved naturally.
She stumbled once, recovered immediately, and reached the tree laughing.
Ren smiled without realizing it.
"You're smiling."
He turned.
The girl was standing beside him.
He hadn't heard her approach.
She tilted her head.
"What?"
"You were smiling."
"No, I wasn't."
She laughed.
"You were."
Ren looked away.
"What's your name?"
"Ren."
"I'm Mei."
She sat beside him.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then Mei pointed toward the other children.
"You don't play with them?"
"Sometimes."
"You're always sitting here."
"I like watching."
"Watching what?"
"People."
Mei stared at him.
"That sounds boring."
Ren shrugged.
"It isn't."
She smiled.
"Okay, weird boy."
Ren frowned.
"I'm not weird."
"You are."
"You climbed on a slide to challenge everyone to a race."
Mei laughed.
"That's not weird. That's fun."
Ren couldn't argue with that.
After that day, Mei started finding him at the playground.
Sometimes they played.
Sometimes they raced.
Sometimes they sat on the wooden wall and talked.
Ren discovered that Mei talked a lot.
She talked about everything.
Her favorite food.
Her favorite games.
Which adults were annoying.
Which children she didn't like.
Which shinobi she thought were cool.
Ren mostly listened.
But he started talking more too.
He told her about his mother.
He told her about Kimiko.
He told her that his sister liked reading too much.
He did not tell her about the Yamanaka clan.
He did not tell her about his father.
He did not tell her about what he could feel inside people's minds.
That part of him remained his secret.
Months passed.
Their friendship grew naturally.
Mei was different from Ren.
She didn't overthink everything.
When she wanted something, she went after it.
When someone annoyed her, she told them.
When she fell, she got back up.
Ren admired that.
One afternoon, they were sitting under the large tree beside the playground.
Mei was staring toward a group of older children.
"They're going to the Academy soon."
Ren followed her gaze.
"The Ninja Academy?"
She nodded.
"Yeah."
Ren looked at the children.
Some were practicing throwing small wooden targets.
Others were talking excitedly about becoming shinobi.
"You want to go?" he asked.
Mei looked at him.
"Of course."
Ren thought about it.
He had watched shinobi all his life.
He had wondered what happened inside the Academy.
"What do they teach?"
"Ninjutsu."
"What's that?"
Mei stared at him.
"You don't know?"
Ren shook his head.
She looked offended on his behalf.
"They teach you how to use chakra. How to fight. How to throw kunai. How to become a shinobi."
Ren's eyes remained fixed on the Academy in the distance.
"Do you want to become one?"
Mei smiled.
"Yeah."
"Why?"
She thought for a moment.
"Because it sounds exciting."
Ren laughed.
"That is not a good reason."
"It is."
"No."
"Yes."
They started arguing.
Neither noticed how long they had been talking until the sun began to set.
Mei leaned back against the tree.
"What about you?"
Ren was quiet.
He had never seriously considered it before.
His mother had never encouraged him to become a shinobi.
His sister certainly didn't want him fighting.
And yet…
Something inside him stirred whenever he saw shinobi moving through the village.
Curiosity.
A desire to understand.
A desire to become stronger.
Not for the Yamanaka.
Not for his father.
For himself.
"I don't know," Ren admitted.
Mei smiled.
"You should come with me."
Ren looked at her.
"To the Academy?"
"Yeah."
"Would they even let me?"
"Why wouldn't they?"
Ren didn't answer.
There were too many reasons.
His blood.
His lack of a clan.
His family.
His father.
His mother.
Everything he couldn't explain.
Mei nudged his shoulder.
"Come on."
Ren looked at her.
"You'll go?"
"Yeah."
"Then…"
He looked toward the Academy again.
"Maybe I will too."
Mei smiled.
"Really?"
Ren nodded.
"Maybe."
"That's not a yes."
He smiled.
"Fine. Yes."
Mei held out her hand.
"Then we're going together."
Ren looked at her hand.
Then he took it.
For the first time since leaving the Yamanaka compound, Ren wasn't thinking about what had been taken from him.
He was thinking about what might come next.
Two children sat beneath the tree as the evening sky darkened above Konoha.
Neither of them knew what awaited them at the Ninja Academy.
Neither knew how difficult their paths would become.
They only knew that they wanted to try.
And for Ren, that was enough.