The Hokage's Mistake | a sasunaru story| Kawaki

The Orphanage

-

Kawaki sat at the table with the other orphans. He played with a rubix cube while they awaited dinner. It was a small orphanage, so there were only about 20 kids there. Chatter erupted around the blonde/raven, but he preferred to sit alone. He didn't talk to the others very much, and no one talked to him. A good system, if you asked him.

The caretakers walked in, carrying large trays of soup. A small bowl was placed in front of Kawaki, and a glass of water. Kawaki was also given a bit of bread, and a cookie. He had noticed that he had been getting a bit of special treatment lately. Strange.

"No fair!" an older boy sitting next to Kawaki yelled. "How come he gets a cookie!? What's so special about him!?" Kawaki ignored him, picking up his cookie. He felt a hand swipe it from him.

"That's mine," Kawaki said, frowning. A caretaker swiped it from the boy, and gave Kawaki a fresh one. 

"You get what you get, Chichoku," she scolded the boy. Kawaki pushed his cookie aside. He wasn't hungry anymore. As the caretaker walked away, he gave his cookie to the boy, along with his bread.

-

Kawaki attempted sleep that night, but it was impossible with all the commotion around his bunk.

"A new hokage, really?" he heard a boys' voice ask. More voices conversed with this one, and Kawaki was starting to be intrigued by the conversation.

"Yeah! I heard from the caretakers! His name was Uzumaki or something like that."

"Wow. I've heard of Uzumaki I think. Didn't he save the village years back?"

"I think so. He's got some powerful chakra, too."

"That's good. Maybe he'll make a law to give us cookies, too!" 

Laughter surrounded Kawaki, making him cover his ears. A new hokage? 

"When was he crowned?" 

"I think about a month ago."

-

A muffin awaited Kawaki at breakfast, milk along with it. This had the kids all yelling at him again. Why was he getting special treatment?

And at lunch, fresh fruit. What the hell?

At dinner, cookies. And pop. 

And at bedtime, kids yelling and hitting him. But he didn't care. He was trying to figure out this mystery himself.

-

Kawaki had been in the orphanage ever since he could remember. He had never hoped for adoption, because he didn't really care what happened to him. He knew the older kids deserved homes more than he did. 

And Kawaki had always gotten a bit of special treatment, but it had tripled in the past month. He wondered what that was about. It was getting annoying, honestly. And, he thought that would be unthinkable for an orphanage to do. He wondered who had that power. And why him?

He had been here since he was a week old. Ten years spent here. It haunted him to think about it. Ten years. 

-

The next day, the kids all played outside in the fenced in yard. Kawaki loved this time, because he liked to be away from the nonsense kids. They usually played on the other side of the fenced-in area, and he stayed in the corner. He looked out of the fence, and saw the hokage mountain, from a very far distance. Trees surrounded them, making it almost impossible to see the village. 

"One day," Kawaki thought to himself. "I'll live there."

-