Whispers: Whoa. Complicated much? But before that, don't you dare say this story was stolen from anywhere. This collab is the story of Midnight and I, seriously. I'm in Brooklyn, she's in Phoenix. So shut up.

Anyway, italics mean they are speaking Japanese, and we'll explain the backgrounds gradually. Watch out for little clues on that, m'kay?

Midnight: ARIZONA PWNS. That is all.

Naruto

Well this is boring... Naruto thought as he scrolled through the list of suspense stories on Fiction Press. Who comes up with this shit? I mean, seriously, a bird mutant? Maximum Ride ripoff, much?

It seemed that no story seemed to entertain him today. He came home, all bored out from tests in practically every subject, hoping for a good story to read.

His wish was not granted.

Naruto sighed and went back to one of his own story's review page, Shippuden. It was his favorite one he had written so far, and you could really tell he had improved as a writer. He always loved reading his reviews, they made him feel important. About half-way down the page, he stopped, his eyes brightening.

*giggle* Dazzle reminds me of Twilight! :D
*gasp* They DIDN"T MAKE IT? What torture...
Lavender Kiss

"I didn't expect anyone to know that," he murmured to himself. In the latest chapter, he had made a slight reference to Twilight — so what if he liked the book? Got a problem with it? — but hadn't honestly expected anyone to realize it. His story was about ninjas, and who really reads both topics?

Intrigued, he clicked onto her page. First thing he did was read her surprisingly original profile, laughing at the moments and updates. When he finally got to the bottom of the page, he was startled, because really, she had what he called 'a shitload' of stories.

Undeterred, however, he clicked on the first one, and sat there reading. When he finally finished the most recent update, Naruto immediately reviewed.

"Yo, Naruto, where are you?!" Sasuke, Naruto's best friend, called up the stairs in Japanese.

" Where the hell do you think I am?" he replied, going down to him anyway.

"I don't know, taking a shit maybe? You're full of it."

"Sasuke! Watch your mouth!" a female voice said as they walked into the kitchen.

"Sorry Kushina," he replied, having the decency to look embarrassed. Naruto rolled my eyes and walked over to grab an apple.

"How much homework we got today?" he asked as he bit into it.

"Way too much, of course. Why did we apply for Stuyvesant again?"

"We didn't. You forged my signature," Naruto replied dryly.

"Whatever, let's go. Later Kushina," Sasuke said as he picked up his messenger bag and an apple and brought them both upstairs.

"I'll call you for dinner," she replied as Naruto followed him up. While Sasuke threw himself down on Naruto's bed, Naruto went to his computer and checked his e-mail, not really expecting to see anything. But there it was in bold lettering-

[FP Review Reply]

"Holy shit, that was fast," he muttered, clicking on it. It was a simple 'thanks for reviewing,' but somehow, he felt he couldn't just leave it like that. He logged onto his account and chose the PM feature, and though his fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment, he typed something back. Nothing important, but it was something.

May 05th 12:12 PM

Subject: Re: Review Reply

Hello, you replied really quickly. I just left the room for a minute and when I came back, here it was! Well anyway, no problem- I love reviewing, and you reviewed my story first.
xx-chikenrawmen

Once he hit send, he wished he could take it back. It was so formal, and so…not him. He had even taken the time to capitalize and make sure everything was spelled right. What the hell was going with him?

"What are you talking to yourself about?"

"Nothing." Naruto spun around in the chair until he was facing the darker-haired boy. "We gonna start anytime soon?"

"Yeah. By the way, I'm staying here tonight."

Naruto did not bother to reply, only saying, "You know where you sleep."

Hinata

"God, school's so boring," TenTen whispered to me in Japanese as our Gym teacher droned on in an over-enthusiastic tone.

"Yeah, no kidding," I whispered back.

We were stuck in Gym for the last period of the day. While we may have been in Tempe High's International Baccalaureate program, that didn't escape us from having to partake in Gym.

"Why in the HELL is he having us do Gym OUTSIDE?" TenTen continued. "It's ninety-degrees, for crying out loud! It's September!"

You're probably thinking how it's possible for it to be ninety degrees in September. That's just how it is in Phoenix; incredibly hot in the summer, and generally warm in the winter.

Well, for those who aren't native to the state.

For people like me, who've grown up in the desert, you tend to get used to it. Hundred degrees in the summer, only 50 in the winter…it grows on you after a while.

But it does not replace the fact that we were having Gym outside when it was ninety degrees. We stood on partially dead grass on our school track field. Students switched weights other foots impatiently, and some wiped the sweat off their foreheads from the heat of the sun.

"Today," Coach Gai announced in an overzealous voice that annoyed the living daylights out of me, "you will be doing laps!"

Everyone groaned at just the idea of doing laps in this heat, save for one. Coach Gai's nephew; naturally, Lee was just as perky as Coach was about it. Coach Gai was Lee's guardian — his parents had been killed in a car accident or something — and it was simply amazing how much they shared with each other. Their hairstyle, outfit choices, obsession with working out…. If I didn't know any better, I would say they were father and son.

"Son of a fucking…" TenTen cursed, albeit a little loudly. I could see from the slight glint in Coach's eye he heard her, and I elbowed her. She rolled her eyes, knowing perfectly well he could speak Japanese. After all, he is originally from Japan. How he got the perfect American accent, I will never know.

"You know, I should just start cursing in Chinese around Japanese teachers…" TenTen's mom was originally from China. TenTen's mom had a hard time speaking fluent English, but managed it very well. TenTen knew Chinese since it was the home language she used to speak, but had grown up here.

"Now, if you will please walk over to the beginning of the track!"

All students began a slummish decent towards the start of the track, just casually walking along. Temari caught up to me and nudged my arm.

"Too hot for you, Hina?" she grinned at me. Temari's real name was Teresa, but she was just part of the group. Her brothers were, too, and they all dubbed themselves with Japanese names. Only those in the group called them by their Japanese names, though, since it was just sort of a 'friends-only' kind of connection.

"No way," I grinned back. I was born with my name everyone in the group called me, seeing as I'm a Japanese-American. My grandmother moved here a couple decades back, and our family has been in Arizona ever since.

"Hell yes," TenTen added. "It's ninety degrees. My brain doesn't process in ninety degrees." TenTen had been my friend ever since we were toddlers. When she was about ten her mom died from smoke inhalation when she was trying to get out of her burning office building. TenTen's been living with my family and me since then.

"Come on, ya'll," Temari teased. "Embrace the warmth."

Temari had pretty much grown up in the middle of the desert. Her parents were a couple of crack heads that could barely afford their small, cramped little apartment. (Of course, because of this Temari was striving to get a scholarship and be able to have a job affordable for herself and her brothers.) They didn't have money to pay for the air conditioner (and things like TV, phones, Internet, etc.), so her and her brothers were used to the heat to the extreme. This was nice weather for her.

"Why don't you embrace my foot up your ass?"

TenTen was definitely PMSing.

Eventually, all the students had taken their places at the start of the track. Some of the ones intent on actually running were stretching their legs a little, and the ones who truly didn't care just stood there, waiting for Coach to tell us to go.

He blew the whistle, signaling to start, and I shifted into a comfortable jog. TenTen and Temari had already lapped me twice, and when they came up to me the third time, they were challenging me.

"You sure you guys wanna race?" I asked in the tone that no one could see through. My poker voice.

"Bring it, sister," they replied. I shrugged and picked up my pace, and they sprinted off. I gradually increased my run, getting to long, wide steps. It was times like this my long legs came into use.

I beat them by just an inch, and only because they were both tired from having gone so quickly before. I was heaving by the time we had reached the starting line again, due to my sports induced asthma.

Damn you, exercise.

Finally, after the Godforsaken hour was over, we all headed over to our Core class.

Core class was undoubtedly boring, as well, today. We sat through it, listening to Ms. Higareda about the importance of threading together the countries to create a more peaceful world.

God, I hate Core.

"You wanna come over for a couple hours to do homework?" I asked Temari as soon as we were dismissed. She shrugged.

"Depends," she said. "I gotta feed Kankuro and Gaara. You offerin' dinner to take home?"

"'Course I am," I replied. It would simply be wrong to deny her of that when I could easily give it to her. "Would you like homemade or fast food?"

"We've had all this homemade crap for too long," she replied, getting into the backseat of my Altima. "I'd like Arby's before I go home. That sounds fucking delicious."

"Arby's it is," I said.

--

"You wouldn't mind if I plugged in, right?" TenTen asked me as we migrated into my room. We dropped our backpacks on my bed my bed and I nodded, telling her to go ahead.

"I've been dying to listen to this song." Immediately, the sound of Bowling For Soup's Li'l Red Riding Hood starting playing through my iHome speakers.

Oh, what a big heart I have,
the better to love you with.

Little Red Riding Hood,

even bad wolves can be good.

We all sung to it, laughing our way through the howls. As they bopped their heads to Ignorance, the song that came after, I hopped on the computer. They started whining at me, but I shushed them by saying I was just checking my email.

[FP Review Alert] Story: Magnifique was the only email I had in bolded, signaling it was unread. I smiled, clicking on it; it was always nice when someone left a review on FictionPress. Usually, not a lot of people left a review on FP, seeing as it wasn't as popular as its sister site, FanFiction. I personally tended to get a lot of original poetry and short prose down, so FP was just more convienient for me.

this was so freaking awesome. lyke seriously, I loved everything about this fic. the storyline, the plot, the characters…you are totally a master of the written arts.
xx-chikenrawmen

I really had to point out that I thought his penname said chiks en raw men at first. After reading it again I realized it meant to say chicken ramen after being translated into non-chat speak.

I pretty much lived for reviews. It was especially nice when I got a review that wasn't just "good" or "cool" and actually pointed out what they liked. This one wasn't bad, either — didn't have major chat speak; only un-capitalization and a funky spelling of like. Not bad at all.

The penname did sound familiar, though. Then again, lots of people had similar pennames, so I didn't think much of it.

I replied an appreciate Thank You note and went to profile for a quick moment. I didn't have any of that Post this in Your Profile stuff, since I really didn't care about it. My profile was a little long-winded, with lots of funny moments with my friends and I, but definitely okay to read.

I finally got down to my story lists. I switched over to my Favorites tab and scrolled down my list. I was checking for something to read after homework got finished today. I had seriously been bored. I was even contemplating going over to FF.

Then I saw it. That one penname — chikenrawmen. My eyes widened as I realized that was the author of my favorite ninja-esque story. That was the one I was desperately waiting an update from.

"How could I forget that?" I almost-shouted to myself in disbelief on my stupidity. I had been so caught up in my thoughts I hadn't remembered that Temari and TenTen were right there.

"Maybe you got drunk that night…?" Temari answered as a joking answer. I shook my head.

"No, no," I mumbled. "This guy just reviewed one of my short stories, and I thought his penname looked familiar, you know? So then I reply, and I go to my profile. He wrote the story I'm pining an update for…"

"Riiiiight," Temari said, obviously not understanding what I was saying. TenTen did though, though she really didn't get the significance of it.

"Great, Hinata," she said in a bored-type of tone, getting out her Biology book. I scoffed and rolled my eyes; I didn't expect any of my friends get the importance of it. It was just that…writer-to-writer connection that no one would understand besides fellow writers.

After a few minutes of waiting anxiously for a reply or a PM of any sort, I gave up. I slung my mouse over to one of my hot corners, the one that put it to sleep. (Oh, the joys of a Mac.) I got up and crossed the room over toward my bed. I plopped down on it, stretching over to grab my backpack.

"Damage assessment?" I asked. When someone asked for the damage assessment in the group, it meant how much homework we had.

"Well," Temari said, sizing up her book stack, as well as TenTen's, "we have to read that chapter in Bio, character analysis in English, the worksheets in French, bookwork for Trig — oh, and we have that reading for History."

Way too much, as usual.

With a sigh I began to start on my reading, first. Reading was always easier than worksheets or, God forbid, a character analysis.

I had been reading for maybe an hour now, and the only real sounds were Temari and TenTen checking over each other's Trig problems. I had just started on my French worksheet when I heard the beep from my email app.

I finished the problem I was on and went to go check it quickly. The email read: chikenrawmen sent you a message in bold.

A PM from him? I thought to myself. I clicked on the subject line and read the message.

May 05th 2:12 PM
Subject: Re: Review Reply
Hello, you replied really quickly. I just left the room for a minute and when I came back, here it was! Well anyway, no problem- I love reviewing, and you reviewed my story first.
xx-chikenrawmen

I was surprised, honestly. Like, really surprised. It was just a chance of luck that I had replied to his review extremely quickly, seeing as I just replied to it when I got home. I was a little embarrassed at how he had remembered that I had reviewed him first. I didn't even remember that.

I quickly clicked on the reply link on the email and began typing.

May 05th 2:18 PM
Subject: Re: Review Reply
Actually, I had just gotten home and checked my email. Didn't really know you had just sent it, haha! =P I was doing homework when I got your PM, and it was pretty fast. Only about five minutes into my pile of homework. I have to admit I forgot I had reviewed your story until I went back to my favorites list. I knew the penname sounded familiar!
Lavender Kiss

Midnight: YAY IT'S DONE! AND IT ONLY TOOK THREE DAYS! AND THE INSPIRATION IS STILL FLOWING! Hopefully, if the inspiration is still going strong, we'll have the next chapter up in a few days.

Whispers: Yay! I must admit, I did the shorter Naruto bit, but it just seemed right to leave it there! Hey, did ya;ll get the little Shippuden joke? Anyway, check out New Moon: Abridged, by us, a crazy crack fic.