Story: Original Souls

Author: katydid001

Rated: M; violence, swearing, sex

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I speak Japanese

Trigger Warning: Implied domestic violence.

Chapter 19: The Academy

28 February 51, Shisui's Home

Shisui sat at the family table and gave the appropriate thanks to the kami before digging into his breakfast. His mother smiled at him and kissed his head as she walked past. He secretly prayed that his father would leave for work rather than join them this morning. It would be a blessing. The heavy footsteps in the hallway made his heart sink when they stopped behind him.

"Son, you will bring honor to the Uchiha name while in the academy. Or you will regret it." The man placed a heavy hand and squeezed Shisui's shoulder. The five year old boy narrowly avoided flinching. His father walked over before nodding curtly at his mother who backed away slightly. "Wife."

"Have a good day, shujin-sama," she replied dutifully with downcast eyes. The man grunted in reply before walking outside. She exhaled in relief and put a hand on the kitchen counter to steady herself. When Shisui blinked he wasn't looking at the same kitchen.

"I love you so much," a dark curly-haired man told a petite blonde. The couple stood with their backs facing young Shisui and he could clearly see the Uchiha crest on the man's shirt.

The man swooped in and kissed the woman deeply with gentle hands on her waist and the back of her head. In response, the woman held onto the front of his shirt tightly and gasped when they pulled apart. The man smiled back at her then caressed the side of her face before turning to leave. "Stay warm today, sweetheart. It's going to be icy later."

Shisui could almost swear that the man looked like his grandfather, but not quite. The man faded from view as he walked away while the woman put her back towards the counter and touched her lips with a smile. There was something so familiar about the green eyes. He felt like he knew who this was but could not recall who.

The vision faded. Shisui shook his head and turned his attention back to his breakfast. He needed to focus. Today was the entrance exam for the academy and ojii-san would not be here to soften the blow if he did poorly.

28 February 51, Training Field Three

The ground was thick with mud and squished under Katya's new shoes much to her chagrin as she stretched with Team Minato. Today she would complete the entrance exam for the academy. Before that, however, Tou-chan wanted her to complete the morning exercises with his team. It had been two years since Minato and Kushina had taken her and Kakashi in. Minato had almost immediately said she could call him tou-chan when he heard that she was calling Kushina kaa-chan. It felt natural. They were her parents. Even Sakumo, as lovely as he was as a guardian tended to keep her at a slight distance. When she asked Kushina she had guessed that it was out of respect for her father, Dan Kato.

Kushina then went on to reassure Katya that Dan and Tsunade wanted her to have a family. Katya knew that she was very lucky. She always felt loved. Even after Sakumo's passing she had family. Kakashi was her brother in all but name. Kushina was her Kaa-chan. Minato was surely her tou-chan if not her papa. For some reason she always reserved that label for Dan Kato. It felt natural to call him that when she visited his grave with kaa-chan. Her absentee mother was just that. Mother. Katya did not feel resentment towards the other Senju. It was difficult to when her family was always there.

"Come on, Kit-Kat! I'm still faster than you!" Obito goaded.

"I don't want to get my new shoes muddier! They're cute!" The little girl shouted back at her training partner.

"Well, I guess we could go to the trees." The older boy stopped and put a finger on his chin.

"YES! Obito-nii, you're the best!"

"Obito! You know she doesn't have that much chakra to be running through the trees with you," Rin scolded after overhearing their conversation.

"Ah, Rin-nee. Come on, I can handle it!"

"I think you're done for the morning anyway, love-bug," Minato said with a smile. "Would you like me to walk you to the academy?"

"Really?" Katya beamed at him. They walked away from the training field towards the academy. When they approached the gate that led to the building Minato stopped and got down on one knee in front of her. He pulled her close before whispering in her ear.

"Ne, Kit-Kat, I need you to remember not to show anyone your mokuton. Okay?"

"Of course, tou-chan. I remember."

1 March 51, Uzumaki-Namikaze Residence

Katya jumped out of bed in excitement and raced through her morning routine. She had been looking forward to the first day of school for some time and it was finally here. She slipped on the pink short-alls that Kakashi begrudgingly bought her the day before. Katya had thought they were cute with the pugs and flowers embroidered on the hem. The t-shirt she was wearing underneath was a simple forest green that Kushina had painstakingly embroidered the Senju crest on. After scarfing down her breakfast, she grabbed the bento that was sitting on the counter and ran towards the academy.

Katya barely heard the Hokage's speech about responsibility and the Will of Fire. She was too focused on her old friend standing in the front row. It had been a couple of years since she had seen Shisui, but she had never forgotten. The thought of spending time with him again made her feel giddy and almost overcame her natural shyness. Shisui turned and looked towards her and quirked his head as if trying to remember where he'd seen her. She smiled back at him shyly. His eyes widened as his memory caught up and he quickly turned towards the Hokage with reddened cheeks.

The atmosphere was jovial as one hundred students filed into their new classroom. By the end of five years at this academy they would only graduate with twenty. Shisui grinned as he hopped into the seat next to Katya before throwing his arms around her and giving her a bear hug.

"I missed you," he whispered.

"Me too. I'm so happy you remembered me."

"You're my friend. I'd never forget."

When lunch came around the pair dashed out of the building and headed up towards their favorite tree. They settled underneath its shade and began to unpack their lunches. Katya smiled when she saw that her uncle had somehow placed her favorite candies in the bento box. She assumed that he must have found it in the hallway on his way to the Hokage's office.

"Oh cool! You got candy?" Shisui exclaimed.

"Yeah, do you want one? They're strawberry flavored." The blonde girl handed over one of the wrapped confections to her friend who immediately popped it into his mouth. It wasn't more than a few minutes later when he started hyperventilating. Katya panicked and screamed for a teacher. They immediately took Shisui to the hospital. She began to tear up by the time Kakashi was called to pick her up for poisoning another student.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I just gave him one of Rochi-oji's candies. I didn't know he was allergic!" she cried.

"These candies?"

"Yeah…"

Kakashi began to smell then and pulled back with a shocked look on his face. "These are poisoned, Kit-Kat. Are you sure these are what Orochimaru-sama has been giving you?"

"Yeah… I had some too, and I was fine. I mean, sometimes my tummy hurts when he gives me a new flavor. But they usually taste pretty good…"

"We need to bring these to Minato-sensei."

Later that day an enraged Minato was heard screaming at Orochimaru for poisoning 'his precious little girl'. Orochimaru defended himself by claiming it was poison resistance training. Shisui Uchiha was fine by the next day and forgave his friend. However, he was more cautious about sharing food with her.

19 October 51, Konoha Academy

"Happy Birthday!" Katya said excitedly as Shisui took his seat. He startled next to her in surprise. She scooted over a poorly wrapped present towards his side of their shared desk. They had been moved up two grades together and decided to stay together, no matter what. Shisui looked surprised to see the object in front of him as he looked at his blonde friend with a fond expression. Afterall, she was the only one to mention his birthday that morning.

"You didn't have to get me anything, Kat."

"Oh, but I wanted to. It's just something I found, it's nothing big," she said with a gentle smile as he placed it in his bag to unwrap later. There would be a time, fourteen years from this day when she would admit to spending days thinking of the perfect gift. But she would never admit to it willingly.

Later that day, he locked his bedroom door when he was alone. Beneath the small bouquet of violets and daisies that she had tucked inside the package was a small twig infused with chakra. It stood up on two legs and blinked at him, the daisy on its head gave a slight bow before it hopped out of the package completely.

"Are you a summons?" Shisui asked the small creature. It shook its head 'no' before grabbing a pencil from Shisui's backpack and writing in an open notebook on his desk.

'Chakra construct, Katya-san's.'

"Oh. So… how do you work? And what's your name, I guess?"

'Itsuki. On chakra. I am helpful. Cannot say more.'

"I believe you. Thank you for joining me." Shisui smiled at the creature before it walked up his arm to sit on his shoulder. "You should hide if you see my father." The creature nodded in understanding.

The next day in class Shisui hugged his friend unexpectedly causing her to quirk her eyebrow at him.

"Did you like him?"

"Yeah. How'd you make him?"

"Oh… well I can't tell you much other than I used some jutsu and kaa-chan made a seal for me. The seal's what's converting your chakra to energy for him to use."

"Thank you. He's brilliant." Katya beamed at him in response before straightening her pencil bag on the desk.

28 February 53, Konoha Academy

Another year passed much the same as the last. Shisui and Katya had lunch together everyday in the boughs of their tree. They had clandestine meetings on the weekend. Katya remained firmly in first place for class academics while Shisui remained first for hand-to-hand combat. The day soon came when they were told they would take the exit exam for the academy.

Katya continued to hide her mokuton ability from everyone except her close family members. She felt guilty for keeping it a secret from Shisui. It felt as though every time they did hand-to-hand combat she danced around her opponent, refusing to hit them. For this reason, she was placed at the bottom of the class rankings in taijutsu. Her best friend just gave her a good natured smile and patted her shoulder before he defeated his own opponents in less than a second. Two years did not seem like that much time in the academy to the pair. Both of them prayed that they would end up on a genin team together, even though it seemed unlikely to happen.

Shisui had asked his small companion, Itsuki, to help him cheat on his exam a few months prior. The small stick creature gave him an unimpressed glare, reminding him of Katya, before bouncing off of his head and sitting on the ledge of the desk. Shisui gave it a sheepish grin and rubbed the back of his head before setting to his task.

The exit exam that Katya and Shisui took was a pared down version of previous years. To date, the Konoha forces had lost half of the genin corps to the war effort. As a result, the village was desperate to recoup those numbers. Shisui's father had returned from the frontlines missing a leg and bedridden. Unfortunately, his vitriol only increased. On days when school was out the boy's only respite was his grandfather. He enjoyed the calm that the man radiated.

After the final exam, Shisui and Katya parted ways. He headed to his grandfather's home, keen to avoid his parents. Kagami's home was quiet as Shisui approached. His grandmother's flower beds swayed in the breeze and the maple tree's limbs creaked in response.

'Shisui-san… they do not have good news,' Itsuki tapped in morse-code from inside Shisui's collar.

"What are they saying?"

'Perhaps you should head to your cousin's apartment…'

"Itsuki. Tell me what they're saying," the seven year old's voice pitched in panic. The stick creature refused to answer. Instead, he shook his head empathetically as Shisui raced into the house. The back door was open. Normally, the peaceful scene of the Nakano flowing behind the house calmed Shisui. There was a trail of blood that led from the engawa to the river bank. Kagami's body lay halfway in the water with a slit on his neck. For Shisui his entire world turned red as he screamed in horror. As chance would have it, the clan heir, Fugaku, came running towards the sound before stopping short.

"Kagami-sama," Fugaku said breathlessly. "Shisui-kun, you need to trace the chakra paths from your eyes back down to your tenketsu or you will die from exhaustion."

"Ojii-chan…" Shisui sniffled before dutifully obeying his clan heir.

"You have activated your sharingan. It is the pride of our clan. It brings joy to the clan when one of its own excels."

"Hai, Fugaku-sama." Shisui looked towards the ground and backed away as other kinsmen swarmed the area. Inside his shirt Itsuki nuzzled his shoulder sympathetically. The last place that he wanted to go right now was home. He turned and went to the only place left that he felt at peace.

As he ran to the tree he saw Katya perched in its turning, she greeted him, "I felt your chakra become distressed. Are you okay?"

"No… I'm not." The small girl pulled him into a hug around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry about your grandfather," she whispered.

"Do you… do you know when it happened?"

"Yeah, about thirty minutes before you got there, roughly. I wasn't paying close attention to his signature at the time until it was gone, though. I told tou-chan, I think he's telling Hokage-sama right now."

"Okay."

"Ya know, you can spend the night if you want to. Kaa-chan won't mind."

"Okay."

"It's okay to be sad…" Katya squeezed him tighter. "I was able to control the plants and trees after Sakumo-oji died. I'm not supposed to tell anyone though. It made me really sad. All of the adults will act like unlocking your kekkei genkei is amazing, but it's not. Kaa-chan told me that it's through our pain we become stronger."

"He didn't have any eyes… Kat. Somebody stole grandfather's eyes…"

"You are not able to chase her. She is gone." A young teenager with long dark hair held a young man's shoulders as he fell apart with wretched sobs. It was the same man Shisui had been seeing in his visions. He had dark curly hair and his grandfather's eyes. Dried blood trailed in thin lines from his eyes down the sides of his cheeks.

"Why? Why did she do it?" The young man's eyes squeezed shut from over his younger friend's shoulder.

"I suppose it's because she loved you."

28 February 53; ANBU Headquarters, R&D Department; Orochimaru

Orochimaru smirked as he opened the test report that was printed for Katya Senju.

Katya Senju; Age 7; Promote to Genin

DOB: 10 January 47

Testing Date: 28 February 53

Ninjutsu: 2.5

Taijutsu: 1

Genjutsu: 2

Intelligence: 5

Strength: 2.5

Speed: 4

Stamina: 2

Hand Seals: 3

Total: 22

Comprehension Test Score: 100/100

Taijutsu Test Score: 30/100

Mastered Academy Three: Yes/No

Proctor's Notes: Katya Senju displays a remarkable lack of initiative in taijutsu bouts. She focuses too much on defensive maneuvers. Her speed is her main attribute and is the only reason she was able to pass at all. She has the highest final test score that the academy has ever seen, topping that of Minato Namikaze, her assumed guardian. Katya Senju is reported as very shy and soft spoken with very few friends. Katya is immune to most common poisons, as attested to by the sannin, Orochimaru. Her instructor strongly recommends that she is placed on a tracking and defense team with her best friend and fellow graduate, Shisui Uchiha.

Orochimaru's smirk quickly turned into a frown as he tapped the taijutsu score repeatedly. "Katya, Katya, tsk tsk." The door to the laboratory opened and Orochimaru lifted his head as he heard the tapping of a cane cross the floor.

"Thought I might find you here," Danzo said. "I have a task for you. In return for its completion I will see to it that your lab is fully funded through the next year."

"I see. And if I should refuse?" Orochimaru rasped.

"I will out your experiments as unethical."

"What is the task?" The corners of the snake sannin's mouth tightened. It was far too soon for him to end his relationship with the ROOT leader. He had only begun to collect hard evidence on the man.

"I need you to implant these." Danzo threw a sample jar towards Orochimaru.

"I see."

AN: Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a review, I try to reply as soon as I get them. :) If you liked this fic be sure to hit bookmark to have update alerts!

Pa, dober dan svima. The next chapter is going to be their genin team. And there will be plenty of action. ;) I'm kind of excited to get back to what I love writing (romance and fluff).

Violets mean loyalty, devotion. Daisies are for everlasting friendship. :)