Somehow Still Alive

New People

"Ren, honey, will you come here for a moment?"

Ren sat up from her place on the floor, stretching her two year old limbs above her head. She placed down the book on chakra she was reading beside her carefully, standing up to walk out of her room.

She was surprised to find her mother in the kitchen with a man she'd never seen before, even in the village. Her mother smiled down at her, drawing her green eyes from the man to the woman kneeling in front of her. "Kaa-san?"

The man continued to look down at her wearily, like she was a bomb ready to go off at any second. "I know it's a little sudden, but there's someone I want you to meet," her mother began, voice soft.

There were two conclusions Ren drew immediately. One, the man was her father, returning home from some mission. The other was that he was her boyfriend, though it was less likely considering she was at home most of the time. The man shifted a bit, crossing his arms over his chest uncomfortably.

"Ren, this is your Tou-san. Would you like to say hello?" Her mother often did things this way; giving her a choice instead of forcing her to do things she wasn't comfortable with.

She turned to face the man, peering up at him shyly. "Hello, Tou-san," she greeted, giving him a small, childish wave.

He smiled hesitantly at her, "Hey, little lady."

Her mother chuckled at the pair, their quiet, awkward dispositions keeping them from getting anywhere. "I told you there was no reason to be nervous, Jun. She's quite the agreeable one," she said to her father.

"I see that," he replied, looking skeptically at his wife. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

The woman shook her head at him, standing up and brushing imaginary dust off her pants. "You two should get to know each other. Go take her for lunch or something," she told him before kissing my cheek and walking into her bedroom.

Ren sighed, holding her arms out for her father to pick her up. He did after a moment's hesitation, settling her on his chest. "Anywhere you want to go, princess?"

She wrinkled her nose at the name but shook her head. "Not princess, please. And you can choose."

Her father chuckled as he began walking down the dirt road. "I thought all girls your age wanted to be princesses?"

She shrugged, "Sounds boring."

Her father laughed a bit, setting her down once we got to the restaurant. "Then what do you want to be?"

Ren peered at the menu, kicking her feet softly under the table. "I wanna be a kunoichi," she stated simply, deciding on a simple bowl of spicy ramen.

The man was silent for a while, analyzing her form from across the table. "Any particular reason?"

She thought about it for a moment, trying to find a way to put her reasons into words. Ren was sure he expected her to say something like, 'because it's cool,' but that wasn't the case here. "When Kaa-san takes me shopping with her, all the regular people act ridiculously. I don't wanna be like them and settle for getting married, having kids, and watching everyone else do the actual work to protect the village. It's stupid," she told him.

It was the truth, if only half of it. Becoming a Shinobi would put Ren directly in the line of danger, and she kind of figures that if she's murdered or dies naturally, she won't have to be reborn again. She can finally rest.

"That's not what I was expecting," her father said after a while, scratching his cheek. "I can't say it's a bad reason, though."

Ren nodded, "Kaa-san's been really busy, but I've been trying to read some of the useful books to try to teach myself a little before I go to the academy."