<span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: palatino;">Miss Jinmi's hands tightened on her arms, and Midori could feel her shaking a little. Was she afraid? Why? Hyuga Junji was not mean, he had not doe anything to make him seem dangerous. Instead, he had brought her back, and had been kind enough to listen to her talk as well, even though she had probably been annoying. Sometimes, Father had said that people could find her talking too much annoying, if she was not careful. Midori had thought, at first, that maybe Hyuga Junji hadn't minded her talking, but maybe she had misunderstood.<br/><br/>Maybe she hadn't been supposed to talk to him? Jinmi's grip on her arms almost hurt, actually. That wasn't a good sign, was it? But Hyuga Junji looked toward her, and he answered her, and he did not sound angry. Actually, he talked kind of like Hyuga Ibiki had: not a lot of emotion to his tone, and he sounded very calm. Midori did not understand why Uncle Kanetaro seemed to be so subdued, and Miss Jinmi seemed to be afraid: there was nothing wrong with a person speaking calmly.<br/><br/>Quietly, Midori nodded as her apology and her question were answered. Though, as he continued, she wondered if she had been behaving improperly. Father had told her how to be polite, and hadn't she been? Or maybe the rules were different here? A little late, she nodded again, her eyes wide.<br/><br/>"Yes sir. I will try not to get lost again, but will remember if I do." She would have moved forward to bow, as Uncle Kanetaro did when Hyuga Junji looked at him, but Miss Jinmi still held her too tightly. Now, though, she'd been pulled back, so that the woman had her arms around her middle. So, instead, Midori added as the man left, "Thank you, Hyuga Junji, sir, for helping me while I was lost."<br/><br/>Only after the man had left did Miss Jinmi let her go, only to turn her around and examine her again to see if she was hurt,  "Are you alright, Midori? Why didn't you come back home after seeing Kenjiro off?" she ran her fingers through the little girl's hair, then pulled her into a hug. Midori felt rather awkward, and wasn't quite sure if she should return the hug or not. Her arms still hurt from where she'd been gripped so hard, though she was sure that the woman didn't mean to hurt her. She'd just been scared for some reason.<br/><br/>"I.. I just got lost, Miss Jinmi. Father went out a different gate..." she felt like she had said that a lot of times already, but she apparently had to keep saying it. Apparently she was in trouble for getting lost, and not even just with Uncle Kanetaro and Miss Jinmi, but also with Hyuga Junji, although he had been nice about it. She had not behaved properly, either, apparently. It seemed like  this was going to be a complicated place to live, with a lot of rules. Really, she wished that she was back with Father, traveling again.<br/><br/>"Why did you let her go on her own? Jinmi, Midori has only visited a few times, she does not know her way around. She was brought back by one of the Hyuga guards, you saw his uniform. We're very lucky that he did not think she was trespassing."<br/><br/>"But.. but Uncle Kanetaro, I was not trespassing. I was only walking next to a wall. I did not go into anywhere, I was only looking for someplace familiar. I promise, I'm not... I didn't mean to do anything wrong..." she could feel a sob starting to catch in her throat. Today was a bad day, she'd been left by Father, gotten lost, and now was in trouble. This was not a good place to live, Midori decided she did not like it, and as soon as Father came to visit, she would beg him to take her with him again. It was all she could do, because this place was unfriendly and lonely.<br/><br/>"Oh, Midori, we know," Miss Jinmi was touching her hair again, and Midori really wanted to pull away, but that would be rude, so she didn't. But being touched by someone she barely knew did not make her feel very good at all. "Let's leave Kanetaro to the shop, and we'll go home, okay?"<br/><br/>"...yes, Miss Jinmi," with a soft sigh, she took the woman's hand, following after her slowly, glancing back at her Uncle as she was lead out of the shop. He was staring after them, looking somewhat pale and upset. Usually, Uncle Kanetaro was very energetic and laughed a lot, but he was acting really weird. She must have really upset him with getting lost...<br/><br/>____ ___ __ _<br/><br/>Once she had been taken back to Uncle Kanetaro and Miss Jinmi's house, Midori was shown to her room, which had its own cot, a dresser, and a bookshelf. It was really quite nice, actually. But, as soon as she was brought into the house, she took herself to the room and sat on the bed. She had stayed there until her uncle came home, coming out only to eat dinner, and then asking to be left alone again. Even though she had been feeling like she was going to cry, since Father had left she'd made sure she hadn't. There was no use crying, it wouldn't help anything. Father was gone, Miss Jinmi was trying way too hard to make her feel happy, and Uncle Kanetaro still seemed to be upset about her getting lost.<br/><br/>The only good thing was Sunako, who had woken up during dinner and demanded food. Back in her room, she'd talked to the kitten a bit, and it seemed to help, even though the little thing just managed to mostly stumble around and purr a lot before going back to sleep...<br/><br/>____ ___ __ _<br/><br/>"...We have to do something, all she does is stay in her room and talk to the cat your brother gave her. She needs to make friends, she is far too isolated and it's not good for her, Kanetaro."<br/><br/>"I don't know what you want me to do, Jinmi. I've tried taking her to the shop with me, but she does not want to go. You've asked her to help you with gardening, but she doesn't want to do that either. She never used to act like this when she was living with Kenjiro. Maybe she should go back to living with him. This is not working."<br/><br/><em>Yes!</em> Midori sat by her closed bedroom door, listening while Uncle Kanetaro and Miss Jinmi spoke about her as if she would not be able to hear. Did they forget that the walls were thin, and that sound carried? Sunako climbed up the small girl's back until she perched upon her shoulder. It seemed to be the kitten's favorite spot. She curled up, tucking her head under Midori's chin as the girl continued to listen.<br/><br/>"She is upset, and so is isolating herself because of that. More, though, I think she is afraid to go outside. Since she was brought back by that Hyuga guard, she has refused to leave the house. I do not think that he scared her, I think that our reaction did; I've heard that children are perceptive, and so when we were afraid, she's decided that she is not supposed to go anywhere. If she does not leave, she can't get in trouble, right? Don't give me that look, she's nine! What else is she supposed to think? She left on her own once, got lost, found someone to bring her back, but when she finally made it, we were afraid of the person she found to trust."<br/><br/>"We should be afraid, and so should she! The Hyuga clan is not to be messed with or upset. Who knows if her being near their compound upset the guards, or the head of the clan! She is well behaved, I know, but I do not want something to happen to her! She's a child, and even a well behaved child can upset the wrong person." But... Hyuga Junji had been nice, why should she be afraid of him? Did that mean she was supposed to be afraid of Ibiki? He had seemed nice too...<br/><br/>"No child should be afraid all the time, Kanetaro! She needs to socialize, like Kenjiro said. I know that you dislike the idea, but perhaps we should send her to that Academy that is starting soon?"<br/><br/>"What?! No! Kenjiro would never approve, and, worse, neither do I! I do not want my niece to be in such a dangerous profession."<br/><br/>"Oh, Kanetaro, she has no previous training. She will not actually make it to genin, you know. But it will be good for her to be around other kids for a while, and it might help her feel comfortable with the village as well, and learn the rules of the village and how to act." Why didn't Miss Jinmi think she would be able to do well? She could, Midori knew she could! She'd learned everything Father had wanted to teach her. She'd learned her math, writing, how to keep track of inventory, how to draw, how to speak politely. Everything. She could learn other things too.<br/><br/>"..I suppose you do have a point. I will get her signed up today on my way to the shop. The first day, I believe, is in about a month. Why not see if you can get her to leave the house, or do more than talk to her cat, in that time, okay?"<br/><br/>Midori frowned, scooting away from the door and grabbing one of the books off the bookself. Miss Jinmi had brought a few in for her yesterday. They were easy to read, really simple, but it was something to do. Setting her jaw, Midori decided that she was going to show Miss Jinmi: she was not going to fail at the Academy. She would do well, and even if Father came to visit before that, she wasn't going to leave early. Because there was no way she was going to be a failure. Father expected her to learn quickly and so she would. No matter what it took, she would do well and she would make Father proud and she would make Miss Jinmi regret that she ever thought that she couldn't do it.<br/><br/>Even if she didn't quite know what it was she was supposed to fail at, it was very much not going to happen. She wouldn't let it...<br/></span>