Suzume defeated a Genin in a sparring match.

She was finally in the sixth year's class.

Suzume strode unperturbed, straight backed, indifferent. She wasn't wearing her bulky, awkward backpack that could've fit its owner inside of it, no unnecessary weight was slowing her down. Her shoulder length hair was chopped off to her jaw, muscle began protruding on her arms, and any other soft features of hers were culled away.

Whispers hissed around them, heads turned at the passing of the two sisters. Temari was leading her to her homeroom class.

While they were marching through the school, Temari informed her since there were only two months left before graduation the whole school faculty were hesitant on promoting her so late in the year, but they couldn't deny her skill.

Suzume knew the subtext of her words: if she failed even once or cause any trouble, she was going to be expelled on the spot. This was a privilege, not a right.

"This is my classroom." Temari was stopped in front of a door whose tag was labeled 6-3. There was some muffled talking inside. "Before you go in," Temari was secured in front of the door like a grim gatekeeper, "I want to ask you something. What are you doing this for?"

The question surprised Suzume. It was unexpected, and for a frightening moment, she didn't know the answer. Why was she doing this?

One good look at Temari, at her sister, further reminded her of her brothers Gaara and Kankuro, and she remembered.

"I'm doing this to live."

When Temari and Suzume entered the classroom, all voices were paused and the screeching of chairs filled in the absence of sound followed by complete silence. The children were on their feet, chins up and at attention. She noticed Shiro right away, who was adamantly ignoring her.

"This is Suzume," Temari introduced. "She took the promotion exam and passed, obviously. Make her feel at home."

An uncomfortable shuffling scuttled through the class. Suzume wondered whether the last statement was supposed to be sarcasm.

"At ease." The students took their seats. Temari addressed Suzume now, "Sit in the empty seat beside Toru."

She followed her finger to find the boy with the scarf and he looked like he'd just downed an entire lemon, but he couldn't complain as she went to claim her seat. He pointedly slid his chair as far as possible from her.

Suzume took the chance to take in the class. The walls were obscured by complex diagrams and graphs or were awkwardly bare in some skips. Four portal holes lined the wall to her left and the door was to her right, Temari's desk and the chalkboard were up front and she was sitting in the middle of the last row in a total of five rows. The desks were on a pitched floor and, after a bit of maneuvering, Suzume found that the tabletops could be tilted up or down, allowing the user to adjust if need be.

There were only fifteen students in this room and from her knowledge, roughly the same amount occupied the other two classes. There was a huge imbalance in the male to female ratio which was 4:1.

There was also a separate building for people who were held back a year. The number of students overwhelmingly outnumbered the sixth years, some of them even exceeded the age of seventeen, still vying for the job of shinobi.

The sixth years weren't allowed to take notes. They were expected to memorize everything by eye and ear, one of the reasons why most sixth years drop out. It was a different environment compared to the one Suzume was in before— more competitive and serious.

Suzume's hand caught something that was thrown at her and she saw a paper folded into a sophisticated aero dynamic shape with a likeness to a kunai. She scanned for the perpetrator but they were all engrossed in Temari's lesson. She opened the note.

What did Temari-sensei have to do to get your ass in? Don't imagine for a second we're going to accept you.

Suzume folded the paper back into its original shape and threw it into the trash can at the front.

After homeroom ended, Temari called her over.

"You don't need any remedial lessons so you'll be staying in here with the class. They're supposed to be high level classes." Temari scribbled on a pad of paper. "It's only for two months so try not to get bored and distracted." She ripped the paper off and handed it to her. "I wrote down the subject rotation and the corresponding teacher so you won't be completely oblivious to what's happening."

"Thank you." Suzume took it from her and started back to her seat.

"And, Suzume," Temari said after her. Suzume stopped to look back at her. Temari set her face in warning. "Watch your step."

Suzume nodded in understanding and Temari left the classroom. The bell rung and the kids all hastened back to their seats, their next teacher arrived shortly after.

_

It was lunch break and Suzume was about to leave the History of Suna class to eat outside. So far, nothing unusual has happened.

"Oi!"

Suzume wondered if it would be inappropriate to go into the teacher's lounge to pick up her food, she'd left it there by accident when Temari was talking to her in the morning.

"Oi, freak!"

Suzume's train of thought derailed and she rotated around to glare at the person addressing her. He sat among a small group of equally meek looking people.

The boy recoiled. "Hey, hey, don't take offense. I wasn't calling ya that to be demeaning." He held out a hand for her to shake. "I'm Piss Pants. Nice to meet'cha."

Suzume stared at his hand for a long moment before accepting. The guy felt like he had bolts of electricity running through his body 24/7, his hand vibrated.

"My real name ain't Piss Pants of course, it's Katsuo. I just wanted to let ya know ya aren't the only one with a 'nickname'." He bent down low and whispered, "Ya don't know how this school works, do ya?"

Suzume didn't give an answer which he took as an invitation to continue.

"There's a system, see? There's the strong ones and the weak ones, and the weak ones are always bullied, always. It's the unwritten law around here." He sped up a notch. "What I'm sayin' is, you're not conforming to it. You're an outlier, you're neither one of us and it's messing up the whole hierarchy. It's riling up the aces and causing us problems. Ya haveta pick a side."

"What if I picked yours?"

The boy giggled uneasily. "We'd be flattered but we'd also think you're stupid. Why would ya do anything like that? It would trouble us too." Those words seemed to knock awareness back into him. "I never talked to ya, got it?"

He returned to his group, their heads ducked down as if trying to make themselves smaller and avoiding her gaze.

She'd just been rejected from both parties in the same day, so, she can't really comply with what the boy just asked her to do. She didn't have any choices to pick from.

Suzume rose to her feet and stepped out of the class. The halls had been cleared out, people were either eating outside or in the rooms. She started toward the teacher lounge.

Somebody appeared around the corner and Suzume halted once she recognized her. Shiro met her gaze steadily.

"You don't know when to give up." Shiro crossed her arms haughtily. "So? What does it feel like to be in the top class? Your head bloated yet?"

Suzume ignored her.

"What's with the haircut? Trying out a new image?" She scoffed. "Ooooh, how intimidating."

Suzume started walking up to her and Shiro's act broke. "H-hey, you really think this changes anything? As long as you're associated with the Sand Siblings everyone will hate your guts."

Suzume passed by her. Shiro hung her head, gritting her teeth. She spun around, "You won't like what's coming! You're going to wish you listened to me!"

Suzume rounded the corner and Shiro was left alone.

_

It was five o'clock and the day ended again with homeroom. Suzume was returning to class from a restroom break and went up to her spot when she saw a bar of chocolate on her desk. She kept a good distance away from it. It was the most suspicious thing she's seen all day. That bar of chocolate... meant business.

She couldn't smell any poison or explosives, but it could very well be wrapped in an explosive tag and if she touched it, she'd be blown up on the spot.

"Suzume." Temari's voice made her look up. She gave her a reassuring look. "It's fine."

That was enough for her and Suzume sat at her desk. Did Temari or the others get it for her? No, they wouldn't break professionalism like that.

She gingerly picked up the candy and slipped it out of the sleeve and out fell a card.

Congratulations on your promotion! It said and nothing else.

Suzume unwrapped the foil and broke a piece to pop it into her mouth.

Sweet.

_ _ _

"I'm finished," Suzume said incredulously, standing in the immaculately cleaned lecture hall. She looked at the clock. "It's only 6:35."

. . .

"It's convenient."

"Convenient?" Temari parroted in amazement. "That's all you have to say about it?"

"I finished cleaning my half of the school at half past six when I usually stayed over there until ten." The last of the sand in the hourglass slipped down, ending the wait, and Suzume split her chopsticks in half and pulled off the top of the cup noodle to let the steam escape into the air. The two sisters were eating in the dining room, both damp from the bath and in their pajamas. (The brothers were working overtime at the Institute.) As they were waiting for the noodles to be cooked, Temari asked Suzume how she felt now that she had chakra. "That's a huge amount of time I saved."

"I can't believe it. Chores! You're happy you have chakra because you can do chores better! Unbelievable." She shook her head in disapproval, digging into her ramen with her chopsticks. "There's something wrong with you, something seriously wrong with you."

Suzume smiled in amusement as Temari continued to tut playfully.

"And I also can't believe you let Gaara cut your hair," Temari said through cheeks full of food. "It looks like he dragged an ax through it. I feel sorry for it."

"I like it," she said defensively.

"Listen to you." Temari excessively ruffled Suzume's hair, grinning as Suzume laughed and swatted her hand away. "I'm very glad you can use your chakra to do your janitorial duties at school, imoto."

Suzume gave her a smile.

"What're you going to do tonight?" Temari glanced up at her sister over the noodles. "Gaara's staying over at the school."

"Hmm..." Suzume chewed. "Read."

Temari prodded her with her elbow. "Want me to keep you company?"

She shook her head. "You should sleep." She looked up at the clock. "It's almost two in the morning."

"Hey, you really think I can fall asleep after I ate this calorie soup? I'll be chock full of energy for the rest of the night."

"I refuse," Suzume deadpanned.

"Why?" Temari said, slightly affronted.

She looked her dead in the eye. "I want to relax."

"I'm relaxing!" Temari thundered as Suzume finished the rest of her ramen. "I'm the most relaxing person to have walked this earth."

Suzume swiftly ducked into the kitchen with her empty bowl. "Oi!" Temari followed after her. "Suzume! What do you mean I'm not relaxing?!"

They were in the living room, Temari was laying down on the sofa with her feet resting on Suzume's lap, proving to her that she can be relaxing. Suzume tried to ignore the sound of the tree's leaves outside as she tipped back her head and closed her eyes.

"Temari."

"Hmm?"

"I have something to ask you."

"Ask away."

"Was it always like that at the Institute? That competitive culture."

Temari was suddenly wide awake and she pulled herself up into a sitting position. "I see you've found out about the school politics."

"When you went there," Suzume locked eyes with her, "did you participate in it?"

"I didn't get the chance." Temari let out a deep exhale. "Everybody stayed out of our way, I had no say in whether I wanted to be an ace or a low. Me and Kankuro... were automatically the top. I suppose it was for the best. I don't know what would've happened to me if I had to take part in such a thing."

"Why is the school board allowing it? I thought the shinobi education was being fixed."

Temari chuckled. "You disappointed in us?" Suzume gave her a hard look. "Don't worry. It'll change. Everything changes, even the most stubborn tradition can be assimilated. It's much better compared to before, actually. I remember when I was attending," her eyes went out of focus, "there would be a suicide or an attempt at one every month. Some lost their lives because of petty fights. The school was almost like a battlefield."

She broke out of her musing and laid back down to her previous position. "Just ignore it. You only have to be there for two more months. Don't do anything that'll attract attention."

Suzume was really unsettled and she reached out and grabbed a scroll from the table and began to read, trying to get herself to calm down.

added 3/18/17