Kululah walked into her first classroom and smiled at her teacher as she found a place to sit. While she was taking notes on Iruka Sensei's lesson, a boy with blonde hair and lavender-blue eyes came to sit next to her.
"What're you doing?" He asked looking at her paper with curiosity.
"Taking notes. Shouldn't you be doing the same thing," she whispered trying to turn her head and her paper toward the window. "Nope I'm too cool for that," he said with a smile. "But I can do this. Wanna see?"
Before Kululah could say no, he took out a piece of paper from his desk and began folding it into a shuriken. After his paper creation was finished, he then sent it flying onto the teacher's desk.
"I saw that Trevor Uzumaki," Iruka said standing behind him. "Do I need to call your father again?" Kululah watched the boy's face turn in her direction and she saw the pure terror in his expression when Iruka mentioned his father.
"Iruka Sensei please don't be so hard on him," she said doing her best to defend him. "He was just showing me his paper shuriken. I'm sure he didn't mean to throw it."
"Well alright," Iruka said with a smile. "You're lucky to have a girl like this for a classmate, Trevor. She knows how to take responsibility and handle it well. And she finishes her assignments ahead of everyone else too."
Iruka put a hand on her shoulder and returned to his desk. When the bell rang for lunch and everyone else had scrambled from the room to eat, Kululah went to Iruka's desk.
"Iruka Sensei, can I talk to you for a second?" Iruka looked up from his papers and looked at his young student.
"Of course, Kululah, what is it?" She stole a glance at Trevor and turned back to her teacher. "Well I was just wondering why you had to scold him like you did."
"I scold him to encourage him Kululah," Iruka said solemnly. "You see I had his father in my class when he was about your age and he took the scolds and threats I gave him to become better at his training. Trevor does the exact same thing as Naruto did."
"Isn't that our current Hokage?" she asked.
"That's right dear. Naruto Uzumaki is Konohakagure's Hokage and Trevor's father," Iruka said with a smile. "That's why I push him so hard. I want him to reach his dream of becoming the next Hokage."
Kululah nodded solemnly and looked at Trevor again, but this time with admiration.
"You also said that I have my assignments in on time. Is Trevor having a hard time understanding them?" she asked turning back to Iruka.
"Yes he is Kululah. I've tried everything to get him to pass my class and become a Ninja, but he won't listen to me. Although when you stood up for him, I saw him smile at you. Would you like to be his tutor?"
"If it will get him to become a ninja, then I'll gladly tutor him," Kululah said with a smile. "Although I have a really good IQ, my mom said I'm just like my daddy."
"Your father wouldn't be Shikamaru Nara would he," Iruka said. "I had him in my class too and he wouldn't even do his assignments. Tell me, who is your mother?"
"Oh Daddy says her name is Temari and that she came all the way from Sunakagure just to be with him. He also said that I came along a year later." But by the time she had said that, Iruka had already fled the room leaving her alone with Trevor.
"Thank you for standing up for me Kululah," Trevor said looking at her shyly.
"No one has ever stood up for the son of the Nine-Tailed demon before."
"You're very welcome Trevor. I was glad to help." Kululah gathered up her things and sat beside him with her lunch pail in hand. When she shared a piece of her bento with him, Trevor knew he had made a friend who discarded the fact that he was the son of the Nine Tailed demon fox.
"I think my dad would like you Kululah," Trevor said as he took a bite of the bento she had given him. "Why don't you come over after you help me with my homework? And then maybe we can take a walk in the woods."
"What time should I come over?" she asked putting away the lunch they had shared.
"How does 5:00 sound? That way I can get everything ready for your visit and make my dad wear something nice for a change," Trevor said putting his hand on her shoulder.
"That sounds wonderful. I would love to meet Lord Hokage," Kululah said with excitement. "Now what do you say we get to work on your homework before our teacher comes back." Trevor banged his head on his desk and got out his latest assignment.
"Oh come on. It's not so bad once you get the hang of it. If you think this is bad, you have no idea what I had to go through as a toddler. My dad made sit through every puzzle he could find and I couldn't get up until it was finished."
"I guess that would be pretty bad," Trevor said laughing. When the lunch bell rang and Iruka returned to his desk, he was surprised to see Trevor standing in front of him with his latest homework assignment in hand. "Here you go Sensei. These are all the homework papers I've been behind on," he handed them over with a smile and returned to his desk. Kululah smiled at her new friend and placed a hand on his shoulder leaving a stunned Iruka behind them.
"May I walk you home Kululah?" Trevor asked handing her the notes she let him borrow.
"It's not that far from my house and I would like to get to know you a little bit better." Kululah smiled and placed her notes inside her shoulder bag before turning to the door letting him follow behind her.
On their way home from the academy, Kululah and Trevor happily conversed about tomorrow. As they neared Kululah's house, Shikamaru grumbled over the garden he had to tend to while Temari sat in a lawn chair sipping a glass of tea.
When her daughter came into view, Temari set down her drink and waved with a smile.
"I guess this where we say goodbye," Trevor said sadly his shoulders beginning to slump.
"But it doesn't have to be," Kululah said hopefully. "Why don't you meet me in the forest tonight after my parents have gone to bed?" Trevor smiled and nodded his answer before giving her a hug and turning in the direction of his home.
Later that night after she made sure her parents were asleep, Kululah slipped out her bedroom window and ran towards Hokage tower. Trevor was just coming down the steps when she bumped into him.
"Hey Kululah," Trevor said with a smile. "I was just on my way to the forest to meet you." When she clung to him and shivered, Trevor realized she hadn't brought a jacket.
"Why don't you come inside? I have a blanket in my bedroom you can curl up in and then I can go in the kitchen and make us some cups of hot chocolate and we can watch a movie together okay," Trevor said wrapping his arm around her shoulders and leading her inside.
As she sat on the couch in the huge living room, Kululah curled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them while Trevor had gone to get her his blanket. While he was gone, Kululah had the chance to look around and found an old box of family photos stashed under the couch.
"How old were you in this one?" she asked handing him the photo she had. Trevor studied the photo she held and smiled. "I was three years old in this one. My dad had taken me to a festival and that's where this photograph came from."
He gave her a photo of a little boy holding a giant stuffed panda bear and smiling from ear to ear. "My dad won me that bear because he threw the most Kunai at a target. You can keep the picture if you like, my dad made tons of copies, so he won't miss this one at all," Trevor said handing her the photo.
Kululah slipped the picture into her school bag and reached for her cup of hot chocolate.
"Instead of watching a movie can the two of us just cuddle under the blanket tonight?" Trevor nodded and moved the video to the other side of the room and then sat on the couch with his arms open. Kululah placed her cup on the table and slipped into the warm embrace of Trevor's arms.
Kululah snuggled under the blanket, but couldn't get comfortable. Finally after a couple of minutes, she sat up. "Trevor, can we go for a walk before we sleep? I need some fresh air."
"Of course we can. It's not like my parents will notice I'm gone," Trevor said with a smile. He wrapped the blanket tighter around her, and they jumped out the living room window into the summer night air. Kululah clutched at Trevor as they made their way through the forest.
Once they reached the clearing in the deepest part of the forest, Kululah saw a tent staked securely into the ground.