[Fic] this heart ain't yours to bleed (Naruto)
- Fandom: Naruto
- Pairing: N/A
- Tags: Destroying Military Dictatorships for Fun and Profit, Redemption, Accidental Power Acquisition, Found Family, Emotional Manipulation, Konohagakure | Hidden Leaf Village Has Issues, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Pre-Canon, Worldbuilding, Uchiha Sasuke Needs a Hug, Corruption, Politics, Friendship, Developing Relationship, Character Development, Work In Progress, Fix-It, Kid Fic, Tags May Change
- Word-Count: 1852
- Status: On Hiatus
- First Published: 2022-08-18
- Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and make no profit from this—it is solely a hobby for fun, with no financial compensation.
Summary:
Mizuki has a mile-long grudge against Konoha—and is now within speaking distance with Uchiha Sasuke.
Things can only go downhill from here.
Notes:
hi. i tripped and fell back into the naruto fandom.
This is a Work in Progress. It might never be finished. Read at your own risk.
Chapter 1
It's fucking disgusting.
Mizuki barely manages to resist the urge to curl his lip as he watches the demon trudge through the door like it's an actual child. It's got its hands on the back of its head, goggles on that it never uses anyway. The orange tracksuit is an affront to reality, and the shameless grin its bearing is an invitation for bullying. While his eyes discreetly tracks it, it bamboozles itself into a conversation with the pink-haired civilian-born girl, Haruno something.
Mizuki has worked here for approximately two minutes, and he already regrets all his life-choices.
When Iruka passes by, Mizuki smiles. Softly, like he's happy and satisfied and not at all about to tear his own hair out. No, he's a kind person whose life-long dream is teaching and he's here because nothing brings him more join than imparting the great Will of Fire to the next generation.
...Fucking shit.
"Sit down," Mizuki calls to the beaming Inuzuka kid that's already too hyper for him. (At least the puppy is cute.)
The kid grins at him, clan markings standing out on tan cheeks and cheekily says, "Sorry, sensei," while sitting down at a miniature desk. Mizuki eyes the puppy, lets the cuteness wash out the anger at having to deal with a fucking clan heir, and is smiling the whole time. He keeps his composure through years of training, and doesn't say a word when another five clan heirs trudge through the doors. Or is it six? More?
Mizuki is too full of rage at the sight of them to count.
"Let's get started," Iruka says to his right, and Mizuki doesn't hear a word the rest of the class. His head is another land entirely, his fists clenched tight below the desk, his back so straight it's painful. His tongue almost bleeds from how much he's biting it to keep his gentle expression alive.
He can't fail here.
...Mizuki doesn't actually know what the fuck he's doing, what the fuck he might be failing. He's a clanless orphan of a pair of nobodies who might or might not even have been from Konoha. His mission record is a bunch of meaningless average reports, his relationships a tenuous leash sucking his soul out. He doesn't have a grand plan—he's here because it's the best he's ever going to get. He's here because he's not a prodigy, because he doesn't have the backing or the training or the connections; because he doesn't want to die for Konohagakure.
So. Still. He can't fail.
The lesson ends. Another begins. That, too, eventually ends. Mizuki smiles through each one, keeps his emotions in check through a carefully nurtured willpower, doesn't allow so much as a single frown. He follows Iruka's lead in how he treats the kids, in body-language and word-usage, because Iruka is actually here because he wants to be. To Iruka, this is actually a good job.
The day's classes ends. Mizuki smiles and nods and pats a few heads. He stays behind in the classroom while Iruka heads out to talk to a few nervous parents (it is, after all, the first day of school that Uchiha Sasuke is back in class since the massacre), the man only leaving him with a distracted, "You don't mind, do you," and already out the door before Mizuki can protest. ...Not that he was going to, but it's the principle of the thing.
Mizuki collects a few scattered papers from the desks, clucks his tongue at the drawings on the tables he's going to be forced to clean up, ruffles his hair at the smell of dog piss from the corner that he's also going to have to clean.
When it happened, he doesn't remember, but that damn puppy is on his hit-list now.
Turning back from the corner, the papers wrinkled in his clenched hands, Mizuki's eyes falls on the aforementioned Uchiha kid.
Mizuki freezes. The kid freezes. (Stares at him with wide black eyes.) The room feels freezing cold, too, the windows wide open and the breeze suddenly violent. Mizuki's heart clenches, and his eyes are already glancing throughout the room, out the windows and the open door-frame, before he can even think of it.
They're alone.
"Hey, kid," Mizuki says, fingers easing their tight grip. He smiles, slouching to seem less threatening, and stalks over to the kid. After a short second of hesitation, he sits down on the desk chair a desk away from the kid. No need to get too close, after all. He'll probably spook the tiny thing. "Aren't you going to head home?" Mizuki asks.
The kid's eyes widen. "Home..." the kid licks his lips, and his eyebrows furrow. His eyes seem too big for his head, so black Mizuki can see his own reflection in them. He slouches some more. The kid's mouth opens again, and he repeats, "Home..."
Mizuki's heart pounds in his chest, a great feeling of this is it overcoming him, and he doesn't know how any of this isn't showing on his face right now, how he hasn't already scared the kid away. But he grabs the chance that's being presented to him, doesn't look back, doesn't allow himself to waver. Anything is better than the half-life he's stuck in now, than the agony of waking up every day and putting on a the leaf symbol back on his head. "Would you like some company on the way back?" Mizuki asks, lowering his voice. He smiles softly, projects gentleness and kindness with his eyes, keeps his body loose and nonthreatening.
The kid flinches. He glances around, too, and his expression slowly smooths out for something more akin to that patented Uchiha Resting Bitch Face™ expression. Mizuki watches it happen, doesn't say anything about it, and when Sasuke gives him one short and sharp nod, so quickly that he almost misses it, Mizuki keeps his expression of victory inside, too.
"Come on then," he says, standing. He places the papers on a random desk, smiles at the kid and debates holding out his hand for a moment. But no, that feels a bit too much like indulgence, like treating the kid as, well, a kid.
He nods his head to the door instead and starts walking, slowly. It doesn't take long before he hears the tiny footsteps following him, that pitter-patter of professional-grade shinobi shoes on old wooden floors.
Mizuki stays walking on a meandering pace, takes the long way to the academy's front doors and lets the kid half-hide in his shadows. There are barely any people left now, only a few kids still swinging on the swing-set (probably civilian-born), and some parents watching out for them. He eyes the trees surreptitiously as he passes them, knowing full well that that's where the ANBU are the most comfortable, but he's only chūnin-level. He can't detect them.
And even if he could, it's not like he could do anything about them.
They take the long way to the Uchiha district, avoiding the bustling market and the most popular shops. Mizuki's keeps his pace even the whole way through, ignores the looks he's getting and the whispers sprouting like weeds behind them, keeps his head up and his feet steady. (If there's one thing he's good at, it's keeping his feet steady.)
"Sensei..." the kid says after a while, voice low and weak and hoarse. Like he's been screaming recently. When nothing more comes, Mizuki tilts his head at the kid and makes an encouraging noise. The kid presses his lips together briefly before rushing out, "Do you know my bro—Itachi?"
Mizuki laughs. He can't help it. The mere idea is—a joke. The kid flinches, stops in the middle of the street, stares at him (along with a few passersby), eyes wide and mouth open. Mizuki's laugh is in his chest, in his stomach, and he grins wildly down at the kid. He explains amidst his laughter, "I never even spoke to the guy. We didn't, ah, run in the same circles." Mizuki chuckles, shaking his head, the amusement making his lips twitch and his eyes almost tear up.
The kid's eyes are so wide it should be painful, staring up at him wordlessly. Mizuki rides the amusement, lets it sink into his bones. Ah, it's rare for him to here such good jokes. He can't help barking out another quick laughter. "Kid, I'm a clanless chūnin. Your brother probably doesn't even know I exist," he muses, starting to walk again. The kid is still for a moment, than scrambles after him.
"Really?" the kid asks, sounding more curious than doubtful.
Mizuki nods. "Really, really."
He's not even bitter about it—by all accounts, Uchiha Itachi isn't the kind of person one wants to know. For fucks sake, the kid slaughtered his whole family. He was the clan heir, was a prodigy and an ANBU. No, Mizuki isn't bitter that he's invincible to the likes of Uchiha Itachi; he's happy he didn't get on his radar. It would be all too easy for somebody like him to make Mizuki mysteriously vanish (and nobody would even look into it).
As they get closer to the Uchiha compound, the kid stays quiet. There's progressively less and less people on the streets, and by the time the compound's gates are within sight range, there's nobody else around at all. Mizuki wants to push his luck for a moment, try to get in. But—if he pushes now, the kid's just going to panic. Better to just stay quiet in the background, get the kid used to his presence until the kid comes to him first.
He... doesn't really know what he's going to do with the kid, but he'll think of something. Impulsive, maybe, but Mizuki is pretty good at finishing what he starts. A plan will come to him. Until then, he just needs to stay on the kid's good side.
"I'll leave you here," Mizuki says, a few meters from the gates. The kid looks at him, but he doesn't budge. He doesn't know what the ANBU will do if he gets too close, but he can't imagine any circumstances under which he'll be allowed into the Uchiha District. He's a clanless orphan, and it doesn't matter how open-minded whoever has the authority to decide that are, there's not a chance in hell they'll let him in.
Better not to rouse anybody's suspicion.
(Well, any more than he already has just by associating with the kid.)
"Okay," the kid mulishly says, staring down at the ground.
Mizuki's lips twitch. He gives into his urge this time and pats the kid's flyaway black hair. "I'll see you tomorrow in class," Mizuki promises. The kid nods, hesitates for a brief second, and then sets off. The gates open automatically for him (a ward of some kind? a seal?) and close behind him as soon as he's through. Mizuki sighs, breathes, and turns on his heel. He heads back to the academy, because technically his workday isn't done yet. There's already tests to grade.
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