Kunoichi 301 – Music Lessons

    “Won’t you reconsider?” I showed my board to Sakura.

    We sat on pink cushions with a low table between us in her room. Sakura could be cute when she wanted – even if I couldn’t point that out, it would be asking for trouble. On the table, a spread of pudding and cake. Ever since ‘the fight’, Sakura wasn’t keen on cupcakes anymore. I had my suspicions on why, or better yet, who was the reason. It was blonde, loved my cupcakes, name started with I and ended with O.

    Sakura nibbled her cake, face a scowl. “You invited that pig as well?” Bingo.

    I don’t think the scowl was because of the cake’s flavor. This one was another experiment. I was trying a coconut-like type of fruit. It wasn’t my favorite, even if the flavor was similar to what I remembered. The locals loved it. The GGC’s wanted nothing more than this one now. It had become their favorite.

    Board ready, I wrote my response. “I invited the whole class, the whole class families, the sensei, the Hokage’s secretary, the old man himself.” I took a few more invitation cards and slipped toward Sakura-chan. Flipped my board, wrote on the other side. “For your mom and dad.”

    Sakura looked away, face in a pout. She didn’t take the invitations. “I won’t go.”

    It was time to use my secret weapon. This could backfire, but at this point, I was willing to risk it. I erased the previous words, wrote more. “I even invited Sasuke-kun.”

    The pink-haired girl’s head snapped from the board to me. Her eyes narrowed. “You like Sasuke-kun as well?”

    I rolled my eyes, didn’t even need to hide my distaste. Under Sakura’s glare, I plucked my short hair, the one side all but shaved. “I wish he’d leave me alone and stop trying to burn my face.”

    “Why did you invite him, then?”

    I shrugged. Wrote my answer. “Why wouldn’t I? I invited everyone.”

    It made sense to me. Emosuke was a pain, had a grudge against me for some inexplicable reason, and I wasn’t fond of the brat, but I wasn’t his enemy, nor did I have any reason to exclude him.

    This whole mess, you see, started a few weeks ago. Suzume got pulled on a mission, and a different kunoichi came to cover for our germaphobe sensei’s absence. The temporary sensei was... an interesting character once I got to know her. At first, it was just another stuffy, severe, demanding teacher. But one day, she noticed me practicing with my koto. I was jamming to my bad rendition of Miley’s awesome .

    I wasn’t bored, but it was good to have some fun now and again. I even rewrote the lyrics. My new version was named Party in the ANBU way.

    Tenma Sayuri-sensei wasn’t old. She looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. Jet black hair, steel-grey eyes. Lean and wiry, usually dressed in the typical shinobi uniform, with a dark grey high-collared duster on top of the flak jacket. “What music is this? I never heard it before.” Her eyes bore into me. They were intense, kinda scary. Was she angry?

    I had to fight the urge to squirm under her gaze. I straightened my back, looked Sensei in the eye, then promptly looked away. My board was a good enough reason to avoid eye contact. I wrote the words. “Is it new?” Was it plagiarism if the music only existed in my memories?

    “Play it again,” Sensei said.

    I nodded, thinking back on the original song. Adapting pop music to play with the Koto was a challenge in itself, but I was getting the hang of it. It was nowhere near as good as the original version, but again, I liked it.

    I plucked the last string. Head still bobbing to the rhythm in my mind. At some point, Sayuri-sensei had pulled a shakuhachi from somewhere and blew on it, trying to match the pop music. Her look was so intense that I found it cute, if still a bit scary.

    Sensei looked from the flute to me and the koto. “Is it missing something?” she asked. I don’t think she was talking to me. The woman looked confused.

    I rolled my eyes. Of course, it was missing something. I took my board. Too deep into enjoying the music I didn’t consider my words when I wrote my response. “No one to sing the lyrics. Someone to bang on the taiko drums and a shamisen to complement the arrangement wouldn’t be bad either.”

    Sensei blinked, like remembering I was there. “Lyrics?” She rounded on me, eyes blazing.

    I adjusted my koto stand, watching the civilians trickling in. There were... a lot more than what I invited. Had Sayuri-sensei spread the word around as well? A few shinobi lounged in nearby trees or perched on rooftops. Making sure this wasn’t a trap? I couldn’t blame them, this looked sus as hell even to me.

    “Your positioning is off,” Sayuri-sensei said. She pushed my koto to an unseen line to the left. Her eyes had that intense gleam again. I shivered. Was she excited or plotting to kill someone? “Don’t forget the choreography.”

    I held up my board. My ears burned. “Are we really doing that performance?”

    Sensei looked around, at the gathering people. She smiled. “Of course.”

    Damn my younger self for teaching this monster the dance moves. I wasn’t keen on imitating Goddess Gaga’s dance moves in front of a crowd.

    The big guy with the taiko drums placed his hit behind us while the kid took center stage with Sensei, the housewife with the biwa opposite me.

    The crowd, mostly civilian families and children, grew by the minute. I spotted a few enterprising people setting up food stalls. Among them was the owner of the Ichiraku Ramen, while his daughter sat on a picnic blanket by his side. A few other students showed up. I saw Naruto, Kiba, a few of the Numbers. Emosuke didn’t show up. A few moments after the performance started, the whole of GGC arrived, dragging a cohort of laughing, running, and snotty brats behind them. Oh god, I wasn’t going to live this one down, was I?

    When the performance started, most of the shinobi population scattered almost immediately. Many more popped in for a few minutes, gave skeptical glances, and then wandered off, shaking heads. I could practically hear the “pointless nonsense” complaints from them.

    Sayuri-sensei''s voice carried through the park. She belted out my modified lyrics, and I had to admit, she made them sound better than they had any right to be. The bodybuilder-looking shinobi got into the taiko drumming, it was almost like mini explosions were going off just behind me. The housewife with the biwa turned out to have some serious skills. The boy was like a machine, clapping his pair of Kane with the rhythm.

    The first song was the ANBU parody, which was a crowd-pleaser. Sayuri-sensei’s voice was melodic despite her stern demeanor, carrying the humor in the lyrics. The many kids in the crowd loved it. From among the crowd, I saw Kiyo-Obacchan''s calculating look toward me. I suppressed a shiver. Oh god. I was seriously screwed here. The rest of the GGC wasn’t better. Muttering and talking among themselves.

    Midway through the second song “Explode It Off” – Sensei having dragged me from behind the safety of my koto to perform the dance moves with her – I caught a glimpse of a familiar pink head. Sakura stood near the edge of the park, arms wrapped around herself. Her face was a mix of embarrassment and fascination. Not far, Ino had a similar expression, munching on another cupcake from the ones I’d given her. I noticed that they were still ignoring each other.

    The performance ended with my version of Ninja Face, Sayuri-sensei, holding the last note on her shakuhachi. The applause was scattered but genuine.

    I bowed along with the others, and soon, I was off that small stage. I was somewhat giddy and flushed. That had been terrifying. My part in this mess ended there, but Sayuri-sensei and her gang weren’t ready to stop. They took up more music; not pop songs like I have taught them, but clearly inspired by it. The crowd, somehow, had increased even more.

    It had started as a small gathering, but now it looked almost like a festival, without all the normal decorations that usually accompany these events. The civvies, kids, and grandmas, at least, seemed to be having fun. On the stage, Sayuri-sensei and her gang shone like they were living their best lives.

    I approached Ino and Sakura, held my board for both to see. “Did you enjoy it?” I wrote, smiling despite my nerves.

    Sakura hesitated. “It was... interesting.”

    Ino grinned. “You were the best part, Hinata-chan. Was that some type of strange new martial art?”

    I rolled my eyes, but the smile hadn’t left my face. I wrote. “Maybe we should try something like this together?”

    They exchanged glances, and for a moment, I thought they might agree. But then Sakura’s face darkened. “I’m not doing anything with her.”

    “Same here,” Ino snapped.

    I sighed. So much for the duo making up. I waved at them, left, plotting new ways to mend their friendship. Maybe I should try a tea party next time?

    Next kunoichi class, Sayuri-sensei was gone. An old shinobi was there to teach us the “proper way” to use the instruments. Yikes. I guess some people really didn’t like music.