Fanfic: Let It Die, 2 of ?, HP/Naruto, Fem!Harry
Author: Yukata Mizu Yosei
Title: Let It Die
Rating: T
Summary: Fem!Harry. Amarantas Potter never expected things to go so wrong after the war ended. Now, bound as a servant and avatar of the goddess, Izanami, she must find her way in a world very unlike the one she left. AU, non-massacre, non-canon compliant.
Warnings: gender-switched Harry Potter, crossover, language, non-Massacre AU, possible underage romance (non-explicit), and eye-horror/gore/bio-squick.
Disclaimer: I have no claim to either Harry Potter, Naruto, their creators or their franchises. They belong to J.K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto, and others.
Let It Die
2
Sen wakes up with a gasp. That dream . . . It's always the same. She's had it for as long as she can remember. She isn't sure why, it's an odd thing to dream of a goddess who harms her with an explanation for what is unexplainable with her.
She doesn't know if it's true, but she supposes stranger things have happened. The biju are considered, if not normal, at least possible. Speaking of biju . . .
Sen glances at her alarm clock. It's still early, yet. If she wants to catch Uzumaki Naruto before class, she'll need to be waiting for him close to the school since she's not sure where he lives. Oh, she knows he isn't a demon but the term makes her think of him. He's a nice boy, a bit of a clown but rarely intentionally hurtful to others. She likes him well enough, but not romantically. Honestly, she doesn't particularly like anyone in that way. She's young and she has time, no need to waste it slavering over someone who doesn't and can't appreciate it just yet.
She's been fortunate not to garner much attention, and being a clan-less no-name outsider helps. She's pretty enough, of course. Unusually tall for a girl her age, she's slender and graceful with long limbs. Sen's blue-black hair is long and straight, falling to her waist when left down, her face delicate and a touch narrow with fine, almost sharp features and a well-shaped mouth. Her slanting, dark-lashed, mismatched eyes are heterochromatic; one eye being vivid emerald green and the other violet, made all the more striking against her creamy complexion.
Like most doujutsu, her eyes lack visible pupils. Unlike most doujutsu (but not all), channeling significant amounts of chakra changes them. Both eyes turn black with white pupils shaped like hourglasses. As far as she can tell, there's no visible difference between her eyes in that state, despite what she's dreamed.
Closing her eyes, she stretches her spine before moving to leave her bed. Its always a task, trying to untangle herself from her bedclothes. The sheets tangle and wind about her legs like an amorous snake, and its almost as difficult to get out of them as it is to do a higher-powered jutsu at her current level. Once done, she sleepily makes her way to the bathroom down the hall of her apartment.
Once cleaned up, shes quick to redress in her usual outfit: dusty gray Capri's are fitted without being too tight under a light gray silk, short-sleeved cheongsam that falls to her knees with slits almost to the hip. Next, she fixes her first kunai pouch high up on her right thigh, and another on her left. Finally, she gets around to fixing her hair. Winding part of her hair up in a bun and securing it with two hair-sticks and a couple of pins, she leaves the rest down and lets her bangs frame her face.
Glancing again at the clock, she bites off an oath as she catches sight of the time. Well, there went that plan. She'll be lucky to make it on time, herself. She'll just have to see if she can catch Naruto at lunch or after school.
Grabbing her messenger bag, Sen hurriedly slides on her black zori and leaves her apartment like someone's lit a fire under her, not even locking her door as she leaves.
Rushing through the doors, Sen is quick to claim a seat by the window and up at the front of the room. She's too distracted to pay attention to who she's sitting beside until two girls race into the class yammering about sitting next to "Sasuke-kun" and what kind of girl he likes better while making a beeline in her direction. Alarmed at the apparent collision course, Sen scrambles to leave her seat and get out of the way before injuries result. She's just a little too late, and is treated to some indignant shrieks as they all go arse-over-teakettle and wind up in a tangled pile.
"Ow." She mumbles, pinned by someone else's weight on top of her and feeling someone lash out with her limbs underneath Sen.
There's silence for all of a moment. Then, someone starts snickering.
"That . . . That was epic!" A boy proclaims, voice a bit rough.
"A little help, here, Inuzuka?" The girl on top of Sen asks waspishly.
"Need a hand, Yamanaka? I'll be glad to help if you'll just do me a little favor." The boy shoots back.
"Ask her yourself, baka. You're a big boy, you can ask a girl out on your own."
"Not what I meant."
"I can't breathe and whoever is under me isn't fairing so well, either." Sen points out, trying to untangle her self from the other girls with limited success.
"Wait, who are you? I don't think you're in our class." The girl, Yamanaka, points out.
"I was transferred from another class. Hokage-sama and the instructors thought it best." Sen answers absently.
"Yeah? Why?"
"Too smart. I was the year behind you, I think, so I was moved up this year."
"You must be super-smart, then. I haven't heard of them doing that lately, advancing students from their original class."
"I guess. Ha! I'm almost free. Um, Yamanaka-san, could you move a bit? I've almost got myself untangled."
"Right, right. Hey, wait a minute! Why were you sitting next to Sasuke-kun?"
"Um, who? I don't know who Sasuke-san is. I was just hoping I wouldn't be late so I picked a seat. Apparently, I should have chosen somewhere different."
"See, she is smart, Yamanaka! She knows Uchiha isn't all that." The boy, Inuzuka, jeers.
"You take that back! Soon she'll see how amazing Sasuke-kun is and we'll be fighting her off, too." Yamanaka sniffs.
"I doubt it. I'm, like, nine. I don't even have hormones yet. Hero-worship him maybe, but that's it." Sen tells them reasonably.
"Whoa, they did move you up. How many grades was that?" Inuzuka asks sounding impressed.
"Wait, what grade am I in? I thought I was just being moved up a year!" Sen asks, concerned.
"Final year, gaki. We're all twelve or eleven." Inuzuka chortles.
"Damn it, why does no one tell me these things?" Sen whines, her mind reeling. Hopefully, this won't screw up her plans too much. Naruto should be in this class, she thinks. Maybe.
Finally, they're all free.
"Finally! Ino-pig, were you trying to kill me? You need to lay off the chips or something, since you almost crushed me! Obviously the little girl wasn't responsible, she couldn't possibly weigh that much, so it must have been you!" Accuses the girl who had had the misfortune of winding up on the bottom.
Unlike either Ino, a blonde, or Sen, a brunette, this girl has vivid pink hair. All three have long hair, but Ino probably has the longest. Ino is tall and skinny, too thin to be considered slender, with pupil-less slate blue eyes, wearing a short cowl-necked purple dress and white-net arm-protectors going from wrist to elbow. The pink-haired girl has bright green eyes and wears a knee-length red dress with short sleeves and a Chinese-style collar.
"As if, forehead-girl! I think you're just weak; all your muscles must be devoted to holding up that massive billboard you call your forehead that you couldn't even manage to support the weight of a feather!" Ino retorts.
"Ooh! Take that back, piggy!"
"No! There's no way someone as perfect as Sasuke-kun would like to sit next to someone like you, billboard-brow! Obviously, he'd want someone as pretty as me, right, Sasuke-kun?" Ino coos.
"Tch. You're all annoying, go bother someone else." Someone drawls.
Sen looks up at where Ino is directing her attention, batting her eyelashes and all.
Idly, she realizes this must be the illustrious Uchiha Sasuke. She'd expected someone particularly attractive to incite such a reaction from others. He's good-looking, she supposes. Lovely bone-structure, almost as nice as hers, and dark haired and eyed with pale skin, he's handsome but not jaw-dropping. She supposes it might by the kekkai genkai business, again, that makes him that much more attractive. He's too arrogant for her taste, though, and that probably doesn't help. Dressed in off-white cargo shorts and a navy blue shirt with a gaping collar and arm-protectors similar to Ino's, Sen can honestly say he doesn't impress her. His scowl isn't helping at all.
She absently notices her bag is close to him.
"Hey, Uchiha-sempai, could you hand me my bag? Ill find a different seat."
"Get it yourself, klutz." He tells her derisively.
"You know, you don't have to be such an asshole. So unattractive." She sneers, stalking forward and grabbing her bag. She's careful to make sure her hair slaps him in the face as she spins around and stalks off and away to the other side of the classroom.
To be fair, given her stature, its more of a flounce than anything. It gets her point across, though, and that's all she cares about.
The class is still in shock when the teachers finally arrive.
Sen couldn't care less if she tried.
"You should apologize." Ino tells her, without preface.
They're on break for lunch and everyone is scattered around outside. Sen had been enjoying a lovely patch of sunlight, basking in it much like a cat would. Lazily, she opens her green eye.
"Hm?"
"Sasuke-kun. You should apologize to him."
"Mm. Why should I do this, again? He was terribly rude himself. Like begets like and all that." Sen yawns.
"That might be so, but the other girls were rather upset with what you did."
"And I care . . . Why? Most of them won't make it to the rank of genin, much less any higher. If I offend their sensibilities with something like that, they have no hope." Sen points out sensibly.
"You still have a year to go in our class. It might be a good idea not to make enemies at this stage." Ino says dryly.
"I'll take my chances. What do they see in him? As far as I can tell, he seems like a prick. Does everyone kiss up to the clans or is he just special?"
"You didn't have anyone from the major clans in your previous class?"
"Oh, I did. It wasn't quite so blatant, the bias, but it was there if you knew where to look. Better weapons, more complete answers to their questions, extra help, that sort of thing. Nothing I could take advantage of, of course, but it was there for others. To be fair, though, I'm not only without a known clan but also an outsider. I was lucky they found me as young as they did, had I been even a year older and I wouldn't be allowed to be a ninja. Security issues, you know."
"That's a cynical point of view." Ino observes neutrally.
"Perhaps. It doesn't make it any less true. Once I graduate, even if some of my clan is miraculously found, I won't be allowed to leave Konoha's service to join them. Even if they're enlisted with one of our allies, it wouldn't make a difference."
"Do you have a clan?"
"I honestly don't know. I'm inclined to say that I don't, as I've never even heard of eyes like mine in any of the major clans."
"Eyes like yours? Oh! You have a doujutsu?" Ino asks excitedly.
"Did I say that? No. Well, I don't think so in any case. I might be wrong." Sen admits.
"You should be careful with who you tell that too." Ino tells her seriously.
"I know. In this village, I'm well aware of what my fate would be if it got out. I'm not a brood-mare; I have more goals than just increasing a hypothetical clans numbers. I trust you to keep your mouth shut, so please don't betray it." Sen says softly.
"Lunch is about over. You really should think about apologizing to Sasuke-kun. It will make your life easier." Ino tells her, raising her voice to be heard.
"I don't believe in taking the easy way." Sen retorts mildly.
"Have it your way, just don't say I didn't warn you."
"You'd think they'd be glad I didn't like the guy, since it means I'm not competing against them for his affection. Well, his attention at least. I doubt he has it in him to show even a kitten any kind of affection." Sen remarks snidely.
"Behave. Don't go making enemies on the first day. You don't have to like Sasuke-kun, just treat him like you treat other people. At the very least, you can ignore him if you hate him that much." Ino scolds her.
"I don't know that I do. His arrogance ticks me off, but I don't know him well enough to say that I dislike him as a person. I have a year to decide."
"Mm. Well, lunch is over. Let's get back to class."
Class is almost over before she remembers that she's supposed to be looking for Naruto. Trying for subtlety, Sen lets her gaze drift around the classroom. Finally, she sees a head of spiky blond hair. Ha! Now all she has to do is make contact. Hopefully he's beyond the cooties stage; it'll be hard enough to talk to him without coming off like a total freak without that complication. She's not sure what she's going to say, but maybe it doesn't matter. So long as she stays nonthreatening and moderately respectful, she doubts anyone will look too deeply into her interactions with him.
She is only half-listening as Umino-sensei lectures, still trying to figure out how she's going to approach Naruto after class. Sen's a bit surprised it's not more difficult for her to follow the lessons so far. The coursework is about at the level she expected, maybe a bit lower in certain areas, but otherwise on the level. She'll be able to keep up and that's about all she cares about. Truthfully, she hadn't intended to be moved up when she took the placement tests. It was basically her carelessness that landed her in this particular class. She's a little worried about her future, with her age acting as a deterrent to any future promotions until she's deemed mature enough to handle all the ugly, dirty jobs involved in being a kunoichi.
Sen must be a kunoichi; she doesn't have the luxury of choosing another career path. Even if she wanted to be a civilian, she likely wouldn't be allowed. Child labor laws being what they are, not to mention other laws, are geared toward ninjas and that lifestyle. There's very little financial support or assistance given to civilian orphans in the mission-based economy, even those apprenticing to merchants. For apprentices, the monthly stipend for orphans stops once they are locked in apprenticeships. Ninja lose their stipend once they're genin, since they are essentially considered adults once given their headband. Theoretically, a civilian who chose not to apprentice or become a ninja would receive their stipend until they were fifteen. In reality, they are penalized for it by increasing certain taxes and adding a few fees. As an outsider, the chances of her scoring an apprenticeship were slim to none from the start, leaving her to pursue the path of a kunoichi out of necessity.
When class lets out, she just misses Naruto as he bolts from the classroom. She wants to swear but bites her tongue. There's no point, after all. She'll just have to try harder tomorrow.
Language Notes:
As I forgot last chapter, here are some terms/words I missed.
Shikyo no Onnashujin - Mistress of Death
Doujutsu - (literally) eye technique/art, includes Rinnegan, Byakugan, and Sharingan
Biju - tailed demons (i.e. Ichibi, Nibi, Sanbi, et al.)
Cheongsam - this one is a Chinese style dress/shirt, similar to Tenten's top in the original Naruto (i.e. pre-Shippuuden), and Sakura's red dress.
Title: Let It Die
Rating: T
Summary: Fem!Harry. Amarantas Potter never expected things to go so wrong after the war ended. Now, bound as a servant and avatar of the goddess, Izanami, she must find her way in a world very unlike the one she left. AU, non-massacre, non-canon compliant.
Warnings: gender-switched Harry Potter, crossover, language, non-Massacre AU, possible underage romance (non-explicit), and eye-horror/gore/bio-squick.
Disclaimer: I have no claim to either Harry Potter, Naruto, their creators or their franchises. They belong to J.K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto, and others.
Let It Die
2
Sen wakes up with a gasp. That dream . . . It's always the same. She's had it for as long as she can remember. She isn't sure why, it's an odd thing to dream of a goddess who harms her with an explanation for what is unexplainable with her.
She doesn't know if it's true, but she supposes stranger things have happened. The biju are considered, if not normal, at least possible. Speaking of biju . . .
Sen glances at her alarm clock. It's still early, yet. If she wants to catch Uzumaki Naruto before class, she'll need to be waiting for him close to the school since she's not sure where he lives. Oh, she knows he isn't a demon but the term makes her think of him. He's a nice boy, a bit of a clown but rarely intentionally hurtful to others. She likes him well enough, but not romantically. Honestly, she doesn't particularly like anyone in that way. She's young and she has time, no need to waste it slavering over someone who doesn't and can't appreciate it just yet.
She's been fortunate not to garner much attention, and being a clan-less no-name outsider helps. She's pretty enough, of course. Unusually tall for a girl her age, she's slender and graceful with long limbs. Sen's blue-black hair is long and straight, falling to her waist when left down, her face delicate and a touch narrow with fine, almost sharp features and a well-shaped mouth. Her slanting, dark-lashed, mismatched eyes are heterochromatic; one eye being vivid emerald green and the other violet, made all the more striking against her creamy complexion.
Like most doujutsu, her eyes lack visible pupils. Unlike most doujutsu (but not all), channeling significant amounts of chakra changes them. Both eyes turn black with white pupils shaped like hourglasses. As far as she can tell, there's no visible difference between her eyes in that state, despite what she's dreamed.
Closing her eyes, she stretches her spine before moving to leave her bed. Its always a task, trying to untangle herself from her bedclothes. The sheets tangle and wind about her legs like an amorous snake, and its almost as difficult to get out of them as it is to do a higher-powered jutsu at her current level. Once done, she sleepily makes her way to the bathroom down the hall of her apartment.
Once cleaned up, shes quick to redress in her usual outfit: dusty gray Capri's are fitted without being too tight under a light gray silk, short-sleeved cheongsam that falls to her knees with slits almost to the hip. Next, she fixes her first kunai pouch high up on her right thigh, and another on her left. Finally, she gets around to fixing her hair. Winding part of her hair up in a bun and securing it with two hair-sticks and a couple of pins, she leaves the rest down and lets her bangs frame her face.
Glancing again at the clock, she bites off an oath as she catches sight of the time. Well, there went that plan. She'll be lucky to make it on time, herself. She'll just have to see if she can catch Naruto at lunch or after school.
Grabbing her messenger bag, Sen hurriedly slides on her black zori and leaves her apartment like someone's lit a fire under her, not even locking her door as she leaves.
Rushing through the doors, Sen is quick to claim a seat by the window and up at the front of the room. She's too distracted to pay attention to who she's sitting beside until two girls race into the class yammering about sitting next to "Sasuke-kun" and what kind of girl he likes better while making a beeline in her direction. Alarmed at the apparent collision course, Sen scrambles to leave her seat and get out of the way before injuries result. She's just a little too late, and is treated to some indignant shrieks as they all go arse-over-teakettle and wind up in a tangled pile.
"Ow." She mumbles, pinned by someone else's weight on top of her and feeling someone lash out with her limbs underneath Sen.
There's silence for all of a moment. Then, someone starts snickering.
"That . . . That was epic!" A boy proclaims, voice a bit rough.
"A little help, here, Inuzuka?" The girl on top of Sen asks waspishly.
"Need a hand, Yamanaka? I'll be glad to help if you'll just do me a little favor." The boy shoots back.
"Ask her yourself, baka. You're a big boy, you can ask a girl out on your own."
"Not what I meant."
"I can't breathe and whoever is under me isn't fairing so well, either." Sen points out, trying to untangle her self from the other girls with limited success.
"Wait, who are you? I don't think you're in our class." The girl, Yamanaka, points out.
"I was transferred from another class. Hokage-sama and the instructors thought it best." Sen answers absently.
"Yeah? Why?"
"Too smart. I was the year behind you, I think, so I was moved up this year."
"You must be super-smart, then. I haven't heard of them doing that lately, advancing students from their original class."
"I guess. Ha! I'm almost free. Um, Yamanaka-san, could you move a bit? I've almost got myself untangled."
"Right, right. Hey, wait a minute! Why were you sitting next to Sasuke-kun?"
"Um, who? I don't know who Sasuke-san is. I was just hoping I wouldn't be late so I picked a seat. Apparently, I should have chosen somewhere different."
"See, she is smart, Yamanaka! She knows Uchiha isn't all that." The boy, Inuzuka, jeers.
"You take that back! Soon she'll see how amazing Sasuke-kun is and we'll be fighting her off, too." Yamanaka sniffs.
"I doubt it. I'm, like, nine. I don't even have hormones yet. Hero-worship him maybe, but that's it." Sen tells them reasonably.
"Whoa, they did move you up. How many grades was that?" Inuzuka asks sounding impressed.
"Wait, what grade am I in? I thought I was just being moved up a year!" Sen asks, concerned.
"Final year, gaki. We're all twelve or eleven." Inuzuka chortles.
"Damn it, why does no one tell me these things?" Sen whines, her mind reeling. Hopefully, this won't screw up her plans too much. Naruto should be in this class, she thinks. Maybe.
Finally, they're all free.
"Finally! Ino-pig, were you trying to kill me? You need to lay off the chips or something, since you almost crushed me! Obviously the little girl wasn't responsible, she couldn't possibly weigh that much, so it must have been you!" Accuses the girl who had had the misfortune of winding up on the bottom.
Unlike either Ino, a blonde, or Sen, a brunette, this girl has vivid pink hair. All three have long hair, but Ino probably has the longest. Ino is tall and skinny, too thin to be considered slender, with pupil-less slate blue eyes, wearing a short cowl-necked purple dress and white-net arm-protectors going from wrist to elbow. The pink-haired girl has bright green eyes and wears a knee-length red dress with short sleeves and a Chinese-style collar.
"As if, forehead-girl! I think you're just weak; all your muscles must be devoted to holding up that massive billboard you call your forehead that you couldn't even manage to support the weight of a feather!" Ino retorts.
"Ooh! Take that back, piggy!"
"No! There's no way someone as perfect as Sasuke-kun would like to sit next to someone like you, billboard-brow! Obviously, he'd want someone as pretty as me, right, Sasuke-kun?" Ino coos.
"Tch. You're all annoying, go bother someone else." Someone drawls.
Sen looks up at where Ino is directing her attention, batting her eyelashes and all.
Idly, she realizes this must be the illustrious Uchiha Sasuke. She'd expected someone particularly attractive to incite such a reaction from others. He's good-looking, she supposes. Lovely bone-structure, almost as nice as hers, and dark haired and eyed with pale skin, he's handsome but not jaw-dropping. She supposes it might by the kekkai genkai business, again, that makes him that much more attractive. He's too arrogant for her taste, though, and that probably doesn't help. Dressed in off-white cargo shorts and a navy blue shirt with a gaping collar and arm-protectors similar to Ino's, Sen can honestly say he doesn't impress her. His scowl isn't helping at all.
She absently notices her bag is close to him.
"Hey, Uchiha-sempai, could you hand me my bag? Ill find a different seat."
"Get it yourself, klutz." He tells her derisively.
"You know, you don't have to be such an asshole. So unattractive." She sneers, stalking forward and grabbing her bag. She's careful to make sure her hair slaps him in the face as she spins around and stalks off and away to the other side of the classroom.
To be fair, given her stature, its more of a flounce than anything. It gets her point across, though, and that's all she cares about.
The class is still in shock when the teachers finally arrive.
Sen couldn't care less if she tried.
"You should apologize." Ino tells her, without preface.
They're on break for lunch and everyone is scattered around outside. Sen had been enjoying a lovely patch of sunlight, basking in it much like a cat would. Lazily, she opens her green eye.
"Hm?"
"Sasuke-kun. You should apologize to him."
"Mm. Why should I do this, again? He was terribly rude himself. Like begets like and all that." Sen yawns.
"That might be so, but the other girls were rather upset with what you did."
"And I care . . . Why? Most of them won't make it to the rank of genin, much less any higher. If I offend their sensibilities with something like that, they have no hope." Sen points out sensibly.
"You still have a year to go in our class. It might be a good idea not to make enemies at this stage." Ino says dryly.
"I'll take my chances. What do they see in him? As far as I can tell, he seems like a prick. Does everyone kiss up to the clans or is he just special?"
"You didn't have anyone from the major clans in your previous class?"
"Oh, I did. It wasn't quite so blatant, the bias, but it was there if you knew where to look. Better weapons, more complete answers to their questions, extra help, that sort of thing. Nothing I could take advantage of, of course, but it was there for others. To be fair, though, I'm not only without a known clan but also an outsider. I was lucky they found me as young as they did, had I been even a year older and I wouldn't be allowed to be a ninja. Security issues, you know."
"That's a cynical point of view." Ino observes neutrally.
"Perhaps. It doesn't make it any less true. Once I graduate, even if some of my clan is miraculously found, I won't be allowed to leave Konoha's service to join them. Even if they're enlisted with one of our allies, it wouldn't make a difference."
"Do you have a clan?"
"I honestly don't know. I'm inclined to say that I don't, as I've never even heard of eyes like mine in any of the major clans."
"Eyes like yours? Oh! You have a doujutsu?" Ino asks excitedly.
"Did I say that? No. Well, I don't think so in any case. I might be wrong." Sen admits.
"You should be careful with who you tell that too." Ino tells her seriously.
"I know. In this village, I'm well aware of what my fate would be if it got out. I'm not a brood-mare; I have more goals than just increasing a hypothetical clans numbers. I trust you to keep your mouth shut, so please don't betray it." Sen says softly.
"Lunch is about over. You really should think about apologizing to Sasuke-kun. It will make your life easier." Ino tells her, raising her voice to be heard.
"I don't believe in taking the easy way." Sen retorts mildly.
"Have it your way, just don't say I didn't warn you."
"You'd think they'd be glad I didn't like the guy, since it means I'm not competing against them for his affection. Well, his attention at least. I doubt he has it in him to show even a kitten any kind of affection." Sen remarks snidely.
"Behave. Don't go making enemies on the first day. You don't have to like Sasuke-kun, just treat him like you treat other people. At the very least, you can ignore him if you hate him that much." Ino scolds her.
"I don't know that I do. His arrogance ticks me off, but I don't know him well enough to say that I dislike him as a person. I have a year to decide."
"Mm. Well, lunch is over. Let's get back to class."
Class is almost over before she remembers that she's supposed to be looking for Naruto. Trying for subtlety, Sen lets her gaze drift around the classroom. Finally, she sees a head of spiky blond hair. Ha! Now all she has to do is make contact. Hopefully he's beyond the cooties stage; it'll be hard enough to talk to him without coming off like a total freak without that complication. She's not sure what she's going to say, but maybe it doesn't matter. So long as she stays nonthreatening and moderately respectful, she doubts anyone will look too deeply into her interactions with him.
She is only half-listening as Umino-sensei lectures, still trying to figure out how she's going to approach Naruto after class. Sen's a bit surprised it's not more difficult for her to follow the lessons so far. The coursework is about at the level she expected, maybe a bit lower in certain areas, but otherwise on the level. She'll be able to keep up and that's about all she cares about. Truthfully, she hadn't intended to be moved up when she took the placement tests. It was basically her carelessness that landed her in this particular class. She's a little worried about her future, with her age acting as a deterrent to any future promotions until she's deemed mature enough to handle all the ugly, dirty jobs involved in being a kunoichi.
Sen must be a kunoichi; she doesn't have the luxury of choosing another career path. Even if she wanted to be a civilian, she likely wouldn't be allowed. Child labor laws being what they are, not to mention other laws, are geared toward ninjas and that lifestyle. There's very little financial support or assistance given to civilian orphans in the mission-based economy, even those apprenticing to merchants. For apprentices, the monthly stipend for orphans stops once they are locked in apprenticeships. Ninja lose their stipend once they're genin, since they are essentially considered adults once given their headband. Theoretically, a civilian who chose not to apprentice or become a ninja would receive their stipend until they were fifteen. In reality, they are penalized for it by increasing certain taxes and adding a few fees. As an outsider, the chances of her scoring an apprenticeship were slim to none from the start, leaving her to pursue the path of a kunoichi out of necessity.
When class lets out, she just misses Naruto as he bolts from the classroom. She wants to swear but bites her tongue. There's no point, after all. She'll just have to try harder tomorrow.
Language Notes:
As I forgot last chapter, here are some terms/words I missed.
Shikyo no Onnashujin - Mistress of Death
Doujutsu - (literally) eye technique/art, includes Rinnegan, Byakugan, and Sharingan
Biju - tailed demons (i.e. Ichibi, Nibi, Sanbi, et al.)
Cheongsam - this one is a Chinese style dress/shirt, similar to Tenten's top in the original Naruto (i.e. pre-Shippuuden), and Sakura's red dress.