Ren breathed in deeply as she pulled her long, auburn hair into a ponytail, smiling her winning smile into the mirror as she expertly wound the band around her think, wavy locks. She turned her head from side to side, her ponytail swishing this way and that behind her head, to ensure that her make-up was flawless. Perfect! she grinned to herself, satisfied with her handiwork, before whirling about to cheerfully skip to her lavish queen-sized bed to pluck her empty bookbag from the quilted comforter, stuffing in a couple of binders and her cheerleading uniform before slipping her arms through the straps and exhaling confidently. Outside, a car horn honked a few times, causing her to gasp and glance at the time on her phone.
"Whoa! It's later than I thought!" Desperate not to keep her ride waiting, she dashed out of her room and stomped down the stairs, taking them two at a time. She skidded into the kitchen to wrench open the pantry and wrestle a package of toaster pastries from the box, already chomping on them as she hurried out the front door, switching the door latch and deciding to neglect the deadbolt in her haste. Her skirt swishing about her thighs, she scurried down the empty driveway to the curb, where a sleek red car was waiting. It was a convertible, naturally, and the two front seats were occupied by none other than her best friends, Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka.
"We were beginning to think that you wouldn't show!" Ino teased from the driver's seat as Ren threw her backpack over the door and clambered inside, climbing over the door rather than opening it. "Whoa! You wanna flash the whole neighborhood? You have a great ass, but there's no reason to show it off!"
"Shut up!" Ren whined as she flushed red, self-conscious now about the length of their required school uniforms. As she tugged the hem down, she used the other to pull down the seatbelt and click it into place. "I just didn't want to be late! Now start driving!" Ino clicked her tongue but smiled brightly, switching the car into gear and zooming off toward their high school. Sakura giggled in the passenger seat, looking back at her with a knowing smile.
"I understand, Ren. It's the first day of senior year!" she chimed happily.
"That's right!" Ren nodded eagerly, leaning her arm on the side of the sleek automobile. "It's the first day of the rest of our lives!" Both she and Sakura jumped violently as Ino slammed her hand down on the steering wheel with a loud thump!
"Okay, girls! We're making a pact, here and now! This year, we are all gonna get boyfriends!" she asserted, looking at them in the rearview mirror with determined blue eyes. The other females cried out in agreement, and Sakura even went so far as to scream "Chaaaaa!" and throw her hands into the air. They all began to chat animatedly about school things, like their schedules and their teachers. When the conversation naturally turned to boys they found cute, Ren grew bored and turned her attention to the scenery. Picture-perfect houses rolled by, with well-tended yards filled with flowerbeds and the occasional fancy bush or tree, with stone mailboxes and spacious porches and fancy garages with clean, high-end cars parked within. They had not yet left the large housing complex that Ren lived in, where the upper echelon of Konoha City resided. That picturesque scene faded into the industrial gothic of the city, a mosaic of fast food signs and various billboards plastered with advertisements and shopping centers inter laid with black tar roads with traffic lights strung about. Car engines hummed, and the sidewalks were already streaming with traffic, individuals who walked to work or young families with children not yet old enough to go to school, or people enjoying a day off. Ren watched them, wondering what their lives were like, until Ino and Sakura began giggling loudly.
"What's so funny?" she asked as she turned her head, but she didn't need the answer pointed out to her. They were at a stoplight, front and center, and crossing the road was quite the eccentric individual. He bore a bowl haircut, with thick black hair, and he was dressed in a garish green tracksuit. His eyebrows were like fluffy black caterpillars stuck to his pasty face. That wasn't the worst part, though; he was actually walking on his hands, right across the crosswalk while the other pedestrians scurried out of his path and looked alarmed. Ren immediately recognized him as Rock Lee, the star of the track team and the laughingstock of the female population of Konoha High School.
"Hey, Lee! Get a move on, will ya?" Ino called rudely and honked her horn at him, and the boy turned his head to blink at her in confusion. His arms wobbled, and Ren was concerned that he was going to collapse, but he just bent his arms before pushing himself violently upwards in an impressive somersault. The girls gawked at his acrobatic ability as he landed expertly on his feet, then flashed then a thumbs-up.
"Sorry, ladies! I was just doing my morning training!" he grinned at them, and as the light flicked green, the other cars began to honk at him. "Uh-oh. I am sorry! I will go now!" he squeaked. As he dashed off, Ren's eyes met him for a moment, and she flushed when he winked at her. Then he was gone, leading a dust cloud and a couple of disgruntled passersby in his wake. While Ren was blushing, enthralled by the strange boy, Ino snorted and pressed on the gas to carry them onward.
"It's a shame he's not cute. He's really athletic, you know." Sakura nodded in agreement, then shuddered violently.
"Those eyebrows always give me the creeps!" The girls began to laugh at the boy's expense, but Ren did not join in the banter; he head was turned, sticking out the window as if she hoped to catch a glimpse of the strange boy.
And so, her first day of senior year began with an encounter that would change her life as she knew it…
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, nor the characters within, only my OCs. These rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto.