empathy (rewritten 2019)

chapter four

Sakura befriended this child of the streets. The first thing she did was take Keiko to a clothing store, buy her a new shirt and pair of pants, then bring her to her mother, who cut her hair into straight strands. Keiko lived on her own and though the landlady understood her lack of a guardian, she had been saving up for her month's rent and couldn't afford decent clothes. The day she met Sakura she dirtied herself picking the trash off the streets to trade in for money.

Keiko said she was a genin and Sakura asked if she went to the Academy, to which she said no to. It puzzled her. The strange genin never seemed to have much of a busy life despite her status. She was always there to walk Sakura home from the Academy, a basket in hand of fresh pastries from the oven. And she would wrap three of them in napkins for Sakura and her parents, before selling the rest at the market. Sakura wondered, if you're already a genin, why would you need the extra money?

But Keiko was no stranger to her anymore. She was nice, gentle, caring. She listened when Sakura needed someone to, and she spoke when Sakura needed someone to listen to. And, unlike her classmates, Keiko couldn't care less about how Sakura looked. But despite all of Keiko's pleasantness, there laid a blanket of mystery surrounding her, a myriad of questions unanswered, a face of a stranger she still couldn't define.

Sakura realized this one day as she was leaving the Academy.

A handful of her classmates, those who regularly ignored her, decided to choose her as their outlet to unleash their temperamental anger on. She walked through the main hall, hearing their footsteps behind her, and quickened her pace.

"Hey, hey! Forehead girl!" Amy called and cackled as her followers laughed along. "Are you ignoring me? You pink-haired freak!"

Sakura busted through the green-painted doors, letting the cold air hit her skin with a sting, as she hurried out the front and rushed towards the trees. Keiko stood by the third one, their usual meet-up, and watched the group of young girls follow her friend.

"Get back here!" Amy hollered and ran forward, clicking on Sakura's heels. A pudgy finger twirled around a pink lock of hair, tightening into a chain, as Sakura felt the grass slip from her sandals and her only center of gravity was Amy's grasp.

Sakura let out a cry and a whimper and there was a brush of wind--a new presence, an angry one, and all of the sudden Sakura was upright, her hair untouched, and Amy was crying out, her hair tight in the trained fingers of the strange genin.

"Ah! Let me go, please, let me go!" Amy cried. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Oh, yes you did," Keiko growled. "You lay a finger on Sakura again and I won't just pull your hair." The moment she let go Amy busted off, running in the streets crying. Keiko looked at the rest. "The same message applies. If you know what's good for you, you'd run away." And they followed Amy suit.

Before Keiko could even ask if she was alright, one of the instructors ran out from the doors of the Academy, alert and worried. "Hey!" he called out.

He pinpointed Sakura and, upon spotting Keiko, took hesitant steps towards the duo. "Now, I want you to let the student go. You're on school property here. Whatever you're doing here, whoever you are, don't involve her in this. She's just a kid, like you, okay?"

Sakura looked at her. "Keiko? What's he talking about?"

"Now let her go!" He shouted and Keiko flinched.

Just as the instructor took two steps forward, Keiko took two hurried steps back. Her hand left Sakura's shoulder, as if the smaller girl was scorching hot. The girl barely spared a glance down at her.

"Sakura," she said. "I'm sorry, I just remembered I have plans today. You'll have to walk home alone this time. But I-I'll come back, soon, I'm sorry."

Sakura blinked and Keiko was gone, gone with the wind and she had yet to know where.