A/N: This story will be made up entirely with original characters, so Naruto & company won't show up in the storyline. I'm aiming for a mixture of action, coming-of-age story, comedy, and romance. I'm intending for this story to be fairly long and detailed, despite the short chapters, so strap in for the long haul, everyone.

Chapter 1: Bicycle Beatdown

Everything started with a day of sunshine, fresh air, and an unfortunate incident.

Newly-minted Genin in training, Gen Tsukuda, whisked right down the steep hill from where he and his parents lived, peddling his bike. This is the first day I get to meet my teammates! Gen thought. Despite being the only child of average, everyday civilians who ran Konoha's first ever bicycle shop, Gen had passed the exams to become a Genin along with the rest of his class. Of course, his parents were supportive but a little wary. Gen had always been a small, delicate child with a bit of an effeminate affect that drew bullies to him constantly. Privately, mom and pop weren't sure he was up for it. Being a shinobi was a hard and thankless life.

But Gen was happy. He was pretty sure his taijutsu couldn't beat an elderly lady with a severe limp, but at least his skill with ninjutsu was passable enough to, well, you know, pass. This meant so much to him that he had proved himself, finally. So, he giddily peddled along down the huge hill so he could eventually reach the Ninja Academy.

The path going down from his house to the bottom of the hill was populated with a couple neighbors, here and there, such as one woman hanging up her laundry on a clothesline and another out watering his plants. A man tipped his hat to Gen as he strolled past and said hello.

"Good morning!" Gen called out, turning his head around to smile while whizzing by.

He turned his head back in front to see a cat lying down, eyes closed and oblivious to the mortal world, in the middle of the street.

"Aaaaugh!" he screamed out, jabbing his bike handles to the left, diverting sharply to avoid running over the sleeping feline.

CRASH!

...

Gen's soft brown eyes opened to the sight of a young man underneath him. At first glance, he noticed the guy's spiky red hair and large build. Then, Gen felt acutely aware of bodily pain and saw that his own leg had been shredded a little by the chainring. The sight of blood made his slightly nauseous. Ugh.

The young man's eyes fluttered open. He looked at Gen and how Gen's behind was slammed right down on his chest, paining him, and took but a moment of slow realization before...

"TSUKUDAAAAAAAAAA!" the guy bellowed out, rage filling his body. "Get your ass off me!"

He shoved Gen off violently, standing up and huffing with indignation and embarrassment. With a closer look at his face now, Gen realized who this angry, young fellow was.

"Kohaku, it's you!" Gen blurted out, his voice coming out even girlier than usual. "I'm so sorry. You see, I was riding my bike, and I saw this cat, and I didn't want to hit it, but it wasn't going to move, or at least I don't think so—"

"Tsukuda, shut the fuck up!" the man known as Kohaku Hibiki snapped. He was actually standing with his hands on his hips, his face gone furiously red, like a schoolgirl who just realized a pervert was trying to peek up her skirt. "I don't know what you're playing at, man, but I don't swing that way, so I don't see why you had your ass all rubbin' up on me."

But I do swing that way, and it was an accident, Gen thought. Gen Tsukuda had known he'd been gay since he was ten years old, but it's not like Kohaku was in desperate need of that information at that critical moment.

"Look, Kohaku, I was just—"

"Just stay away from me!" Kohaku said. "We may be classmates but that doesn't mean shit to me. Alrighty, then? Don't bother showing up to our new teammate assignment. If you do, I'll beat the snot out of you. You hear, fag? Get fucked, dude. Jesus."

And with that, Kohaku turned his back on Gen and started walking. As Gen watched him slowly disappear from his sight, he knew at that moment that everything he'd trained for was for naught. Waste of time. Over. Done with.

Great.

How could Gen face his old classmates at the ninja teammate assignment meeting now? He wasn't looking forward to any broken bones courtesy of Kohaku's homophobic rage. But he still yearned to be a ninja.

He had a huge choice to make. Now.

A/N: Poor Gen! Kohaku is quite mean.