The Caged Bird

"Damn, don't do this to me."

Yayoi jolted and instinctively tried to run back inside.

He couldn't help it. He thought this little Uchiha was a bit too "persistent."

That morning, Uchiha Yan had left him speechless, so he'd kept putting her off. After school, he'd even dashed straight into the forest, hoping to shake her and put the whole matter behind him.

Who knew that would only make Uchiha Yan lose her patience? He'd underestimated the resolve of the Uchiha.

As expected, all Uchiha were extremists. Ah, the naturally evil Uchiha!

And don't give him that nonsense about Blood Sorrow. In his previous life, he'd been dragged into the Execution Department under that very excuse.

What a load of nonsense, this Blood Sorrow. Ordinary people wouldn't do something like this.

Waiting for an answer by staking out his house? Was that something a normal person would do?

But she was an Uchiha. When he thought of it that way, everything seemed perfectly normal.

Besides, this was his house. Why should he run?

Even if anyone had reason to be scared, it should be the little Uchiha girl standing opposite him.

He was a super shinobi of the Ninja World with two bloodlines. Was he really afraid of a little girl?

In an instant, Yayoi saw reason and stopped his instinctive movement.

Yan, standing at the door, heard the noise and turned around. When she saw Yayoi, she smiled and spoke.

"Yayoi-kun, we meet again."

"Have you made up your mind about this morning?"

"Mm."

"So, does that mean you agree?"

"..."

Yayoi walked toward his front door without expression, as if he'd given up and didn't want to deal with Yan.

"Sorry for disturbing your life, Yayoi-kun."

Perhaps she realized she'd overstepped. With an apologetic apology, Yan left.

"I didn't manage to become friends with Yayoi-kun. Maybe next time."

Yan seemed a little dejected, but she quickly encouraged herself and perked up.

She walked alone down the small road, now growing dark.

"She really left?"

Yayoi poked his head out from the yard and looked down the dark path.

Yan was walking along the road. Though streetlamps dotted the darkness, the place still felt cold and lonely.

Seeing her solitary figure, Yayoi felt something stir faintly within him.

Maybe it was an impulse, or perhaps a feeling from their shared past. For some inexplicable reason, Yayoi walked out.

Yan heard the movement behind her and turned around. Light fell across the girl's shoulder.

"I don't have much free time, but I suppose I could occasionally spare some to chat with you."

Looking at Yan in the light, Yayoi opened his mouth as if to say more, but in the end he only managed to say this awkwardly.

As far as Yayoi was concerned, Yan was just someone who hadn't appeared in the original story.

She was unimportant. He didn't mind chatting with her, and it might even plant a seed for studying Uchiha bloodlines in the future.

Two birds with one stone. Why not?

It definitely wasn't because he'd suddenly felt sympathy for Yan.

"It's getting late. You should head home."

With that, he went back inside, not caring how Yan felt.

"You really are kind, Yayoi-kun."

Beneath the moonlight, Yan let down her long hair. Silver light fell over her smooth purple locks, and the bright moonlight bathed her face.

Back home, a strange emotion lingered for three seconds. Yayoi quickly shook his head, turned on the light, and picked up a medical book.

The cool moonlight shed flecks of silver through the window, falling across Yayoi's face.

He reached out, as if trying to grasp the moonlight.

Tonight, the moon seemed especially bright.

Early the next morning, Yayoi climbed out of bed, washed up, and wolfed down a little breakfast before leaving home for the Ninja Academy.

But at the street corner, a petite purple-haired girl stood in the bright sunlight, smiling at him.

"Damn, you wicked Uchiha!"

A month passed.

Yayoi and Yan made a pact: Yan could observe him every day, but she couldn't disturb him while he was reading.

As for being observed, Yayoi didn't care. His conscience was clear, and he had no embarrassing secrets.

Studying was Yayoi's bottom line. Everything else mattered less.

After all, he lived in a world where war could break out at any moment. He really needed to make sure he could survive.

Medical knowledge was the foundation for his future research. It was essential, and he couldn't afford to neglect it.

Still, they chatted now and then, as if they'd gone back to how things used to be, only they were a little closer. Yayoi also felt Yan was different from other Uchiha.

Once he set aside his prejudice, it was clear she was a gentle person. More importantly, Yan gave Yayoi a mature impression. They were practically the only classmates in the class who could talk to each other.

As for Rin, she was too aloof. Though he knew there was an easygoing person beneath that cold exterior, they had nothing to talk about. Besides, Yayoi didn't have that much time to study a little girl.

Yayoi continued his peaceful life at the Ninja Academy.

As usual, he devoted himself to his books, cutting the figure of a complete bookworm.

Normally, people like him would get picked on by mischievous children. That had been true in both of his previous lives, and all the more so in the Ninja World, where people were physically stronger.

But no one ever bullied Yayoi. He looked easy to pick on, yet no one had ever suggested doing so.

Perhaps, deep down, everyone thought he wasn't someone to mess with. And he wasn't cold toward others, either. He smiled when there was reason to, though he wasn't very sociable.

His friendly rapport with Yan did, however, draw sidelong glances from the others.

Even Rin, who was usually so reserved, would sometimes watch the two of them whispering together, unsure why their relationship had suddenly grown so close.

Their plain, uneventful lives continued until today.

Something seemed to have changed.

During the second class, the classmate who'd been absent suddenly came back.

"Sorry, teacher. I'm late."

A little boy with a headscarf and pure white eyes walked over. His eyes still seemed to glisten with tears.

The classroom was instantly thrown into an uproar. The children were baffled.

Why was he crying?

"Go on in."

The teacher looked at the boy's eyes, then at his forehead, and seemed to understand what had happened. Without saying anything, the teacher waved him inside.

Class resumed, but few people were paying attention to the lesson.

Children that age were at their most curious, and all eyes turned toward the boy.

But those harmless gazes seemed like knives now, cutting into him. He didn't dare raise his head and huddled low over his desk.

Yayoi seemed to remember something.

"Someone from the Hyuga Clan, around this age... what happened?"

He searched his memories, but it had been so long that he couldn't quite recall.

Then he suddenly looked at Rin. She was from the Hyuga Clan too, so she should know what was going on.

"Rin, what happened to Raikou?"

It was the first time Yayoi had taken the initiative to speak to his deskmate.

Rin's expression was strange too. Seeing Raikou, her eyes were blank, and he couldn't tell what emotions lay beneath.

"Raikou is from the Hyuga Branch Family. It's a family tradition."

Rin's mood was off. After answering Yayoi, she turned to look out the window. Noticing her odd behavior, Yayoi didn't press her further.

"What happened to Raikou? Do you know, Yan?"

"The Caged Bird, I guess."

Yan rested her chin on her hand, looking bored.

"It's a Branch Family tradition. They seem to carve it in when they're six, like a name.

"From then on, their freedom and lives are controlled by the Main Family, like birds in a cage."

Yan found this tradition repulsive, so there was no emotion in her description of the Caged Bird. Her cold tone was like the cage that held its victims.

You could glimpse its despair from the name alone.

"Slavery?"

Yayoi realized something was wrong, and felt a bitter sense of irony.

Wasn't this supposed to be a village where people loved one another under the Will of Fire?

How could they not even keep up appearances?

He understood why Rin was upset now.

Perhaps this cold Hyuga girl was a Caged Bird too. She just hadn't been locked in her cage yet.

Looking at Raikou now was like seeing her own future: struggling in the despairing cage, only to be torn to pieces by its cold bars.

"Class dismissed."

As the bell rang, the children's lively voices swept away the sadness.

But some sorrows ran too deep to be washed away. They could only be buried in the earth by the falling rain, where they would take root and sprout.