Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I only own the Kojima twins.
Kojima Mai had to admit she wasn't the best person in this world.
She wasn't the kindest and she wasn't the nicest. In fact, she could be mean and rude sometimes. But Mai believed that her heart was in the right place. She loved her family, especially her twin brother, and her friends.
So why was it that fate always seems to hate her?
Oh no, don't get her wrong. Things had been going well for Mai. Her high school wasn't the best but she had amazing, caring friends. Her grades were lower than average but her twin brother was always willing to help. Her parents were mostly away but they loved her and she loved them.
Mai wondered, especially now, if God had to ruin it because her life was too happy and normal.
"Please, Mai! Do me a favor. At least this once." Daichi, her twin brother, begged, his hands clasped together in front of him.
Mai slowly looked away from the wall- she hadn't realized there was a crack there- and her eyes landed on him.
The twins both had the same brown hair and green eyes. People had always told them that those eyes always held too many emotions in them. Mai always refused that statement, saying that if it was anyone with trouble holding back their tears when watching the last episode of Gravity Falls, it was Daichi and only Daichi. She wouldn't want to mention how many times she had to buy tissue packs from the convenient store beside her house just because her stupid brother thought it was a good idea to watch Titanic every two months.
Daichi and Mai looked almost identical, even their height was almost the same. Daichi was only an inch or two taller. So yes, Daichi was short for his age, and no, she wasn't tall. Her height of 5'2 was considerably normal for other sixteen years old girls out there.
Despite looking so similar, Mai always wondered how they turned out to be so different.
"No! Our parents are going to be so disappointed. Especially in you, Daichi." Mai crossed her arms, staring at her male replica with a frown.
"To hell with their hospitals! I don't want to be the heir. I want to be a musician. Mai, please! You have to understand me." Her eyes widened at his bold statement.
Daichi was never a rebel. He was a typical mommy's boy, never getting into trouble. For Mai, she occasionally got into trouble, but never for serious ones. Still, compared to her, Daichi was a shining trophy.
But to be honest, the both of them didn't really care about their parents' hospitals, even if they were ones of the most successful hospitals in Japan.
"If not you, then who?" She argued. "Our parents wanted you to take over the company since we were in junior high. You are always the better one, the smarter one. I mean, look at our high schools. You are accepted into the most prestigious high school in Japan. What about me?" Mai said, pointing at herself. "Nobody knows my high school." She said bitterly. Her brother was always the perfect one and she was the shadowed one.
"They'll find someone." Daichi said desperately. "I want to follow my dreams. You know I wouldn't do it if I wasn't so sure."
He had a point. Daichi had always been the sensible one but this time, she wasn't so sure.
"Can't you go after high school?" Mai asked.
"I got a scholarship to the best performing arts high school in Paris, Mai. I'm not giving that up." He said, determined.
Mai stared into her brother's green eyes, the same ones she had, for a long moment before heaving out a sigh.
"Fine, I'll go to your high school in your place." She muttered. "Only because I love you."
Daichi's eyes brightened and he launched forward to give her a tight hug.
"Oh my God! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you so much right now!" He squealed, his eyes brightened almost instantly.
Mai made a face and pushed him away.
"But there is a problem." She said, holding up a finger. "The reason you want me to go in your place is because the principal is going to call our parents if you are still absent from Konoha High, right?"
Daichi nodded. "Yeah, my friend told me." At Mai's confused face, he elaborated. "A friend I met at a chess competition."
Mai nodded in understanding. Her brother was active in various clubs, especially chess and basketball clubs. She used to attend many of his basketball games for a few years and was proud to be the one screaming the loudest when Daichi scored. In chess competitions, however, the tense atmosphere forced her to keep her mouth shut, which Daichi was eternally thankful for.
"What about my school? Aren't they going to call my parents too?" Mai asked, a tad worried.
"They don't care about you." Daichi said dismissively and she slapped the back of his head.
"I mean, come on!" He said defensively, rubbing the sore spot on his head. "Your teachers there don't care about the students. Many of them don't even attend the classes to teach you guys! You aren't smart and you didn't cause the school any troubles, so you are pretty much under their radar."
He had a point. Again.
"If it makes you feel better," Daichi continued. "I can help you when a teacher asks for you."
"How?" She asked curiously.
"Writing a letter saying you are on a break to visit our grandma in England, of course. I'll sign dad's signature." He said cheekily.
Mai thought about it. "And you can't do this with Konoha High because…?"
"You need more than a letter. They require parents or guardians to personally meet the teachers." Daichi said, disheartened.
Mai patted his shoulder. "There, there." She inwardly wondered if she was going to survive a day in that strict school. "Now tell me more about your high school. If I'm going to attend there, I need to know what it is like."
"Well, it is the most prestigious high school in Japan, but you already know that." Mai rolled her green eyes at the known fact.
"Only rich children go there. Many of them are heirs, like me. But all of them are smart in some way." He stopped when she held up my hand.
"Woah, what? Smart?" She asked, an incredulous look on her face.
Mai was a girl many things, you see. She liked to think that she was amazing, awesome, wonderful and absolutely badass (Daichi begged to differ), but being smart was definitely not one of them.
"I can ask my friend to tutor you, no big deal." He rolled his eyes. "Now let me continue from where I left of before I was rudely interrupted by a certain someone." Mai sighed at her brother's attitude.
"The school campus is very big, so don't get lost. I'll give you my schedule. In some of the classes, a few sophomores learn with the seniors, so don't be surprised if you enter a classroom full of giants."
Mai nodded to show that she was following what he was saying. Daichi hesitated and Mai raised her eyebrows.
"One last thing," Daichi paused dramatically, "it's an allboysboardingschool." He rushed the last few words out.
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that." Mai said, a hand slowly rising to rest on her hip.
Daichi gulped. "It's an all boys boarding school."
Mai stared at Daichi for a long moment before bursting out into loud laughter, her hand slapping her knee, leaving her poor twin to stare at her cautiously.
"Wow, thank you." She wiped a tear from her eyes. "I needed that. This conversation has been so intense I thought I was going to die of stress. Your humor is much appreciated." She grinned, ruffling Daichi's hair.
He gave an uneven laugh, his eyes darting everywhere else that wasn't his twin. "Here's the thing... um… I wasn't joking."
Mai's laughter slowly died out and soon, a dangerous silence filled the room instead. Daichi inched towards the window.
"Daichi, dear brother," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "What did you say?"
She threatening step closer to him and he took a step back. Mai took another step forward, Daichi took a step back until his back was against the window that was opened halfway. The wind flowed from the window into the room, sending Mai's long brown hair flying all around her, dangerously similar to a demon that was kicked out of the gates of heaven.
"I love you, and you love me, Mai." Daichi said slowly. He really didn't want to face Mai's wrath. "I helped you countless of times and I am asking only this favor from you."
The fear in his eyes suddenly disappeared, replaced by a playful glint. "You'll blend in just fine as a boy. I'll see you later when I come back to Japan, Mai!"
Mai screamed when he jumped off the window. Panic clawed her and she quickly reached out to grab his arm but she was too late. She could only watch as gravity worked its way on Daichi as he fell, and fell, and fell, and landed on a… bouncing castle?
Two of his friends, she recognized from Daichi's photos, grinned and helped him up from the soft landing and then pushing him into a car. Not before he gave her one last wink.
The brunette watched as the car quickly disappeared from her view, leaving her standing there like a fool with her eyes and mouth wide open and a bouncing castle in front of her house. Mai took a while to try to comprehend what had happened.
And when she did, she wasn't too happy about it.
"Kojima Daichi. I will kill you!"
Turns out Mai didn't kill her twin. She didn't even come close to it, considering how she didn't know where he was. What she did, though, was giving a lot of thought on what her brother had asked of her. If she didn't, Mai wouldn't be standing in front of Konoha High's gates with a short brown wig, a chest binding, a baggy uniform and a schoolbag slung over her shoulder.
Daichi was smarter than she thought. He knew that by leaving, she wouldn't be able to argue with him. He knew that she loved him and her conscience wouldn't allow her to do anything that would harm him.
And it turns out that he knew she was going to agree to it sooner or later. The next day, there was a schoolbag waiting for her in the living room with various textbooks, her daily schedule, a map of the school campus and four sets of school uniform.
The uniform consists of a white collared shirt that has folded long sleeves ending 3 inches below the elbow, a Konoha symbol imprinted on the right chest pocket, a dark blue necktie, long dark blue pants and an optional V-neck navy sweater. He even left her a note telling her to bring some casual clothes for sleeping and the weekends.
He'd better bring back some kickass chocolates if he wanted to be forgiven.
Looking at the massive school gates, Mai nervously played with the bracelet on her left wrist. It was a chain mail bracelet, silver alternating with blue. She bought it with Daichi, and he had a similar one with silver alternating with green. They chose their favorite colors.
She looked at the school map before entering the maze to find the principal's office. She purposely avoided the boys, which was fairly difficult considering how all the students they were all stupid hormonal teenage boys. Not to mention, they were all very tall and intimidating compared to her 5'2 form, so excuse her for being scared.
Luckily, she stumbled across a nice lady with short hair who was walking along the classroom corridor.
"Are you lost?" The woman asked pleasantly, staring at Mai's panicked eyes.
"Yes." Mai said in relief, before coughing and deepening her voice. "I mean, yes. Can you please show me the way to the principal's office?"
Her eyes brightened. "I am just heading there. Come on, let's walk there together."
Mai thanked the heavens up there for sending this kind woman to her.
"I'm Shizune." The lady introduced herself. "I'm the principal's assistant."
Mai grinned. "I'm Kojima M-" She coughed into her hand. "Kojima Daichi."
Recognition crossed Shizune's face. "You're the new student that has been missing school for a week! We were going to call your parents tomorrow to check up on you. Good thing you're here."
Mai gave Shizune a pleasant smile and inwardly cursed at Daichi.
Shizune brought her up the stairs to the top floor which was dedicated to the principal and her secretary, Shizune. She placed her papers onto her table, which interestingly had a pet pig sitting right on top of it. The short haired secretary pointed towards the door beside her table.
"Go ahead, Daichi. That's the door to the office."
Mai hesitantly opened the door, slowly twisting the knob, but when she did, Mai was shocked by the sheer size of it. It was almost half the size of a public library. There were shelves of books far to the right and shelves of student archives to the left. At the back of the office was a long and wide table, disturbingly clean and organized. There was an intimidating shadow of a serious woman behind the table.
"I am the principal of this school, Senju Tsunade. Take a seat, Kojima Daichi." Mai walked closer to the voice.
The first thing the brunette took notice of was the size of the principal's… breasts. All of the sudden, Mai felt as though her chest binding was no longer necessary.
The second thing was that Tsunade looked way too young to manage such a big and prestigious school. Her long blonde hair was tied into childish twin pigtails and her face was free of any blemishes. There was a diamond tattoo right at the center of her forehead and Mai resisted the urge to poke it.
The last thing she took notice of was the principal's eyes. They were hard and unforgiving. She made a mental note to never piss this woman of.
Mai quickly slumped into the seat.
Tsunade walked to the left of the room and brought out an archive. She flipped through the first few pages while walking back before throwing it onto the table, making Mai jump.
"Kojima Daichi." She said, sitting back down.
"Yes?" Mai squeaked.
"Perfect grades, heir to the famous Kojima pharmaceutical company and hospital, president of the student council, captain of your junior high's basketball team. Your portfolio is impressive." Tsunade nodded at Mai.
"Thank you." She answered meekly.
"But you've missed your first week of school here." Tsunade said, her voice dangerously calm. "For what reason might that be?"
Mai's mind raked through thousands of different excuses Daichi would use. "I was sick, ma'am."
Her light brown eyes bore into Mai's green ones. "I hope you do realize that this school doesn't accept just anyone, especially after freshman year. You are lucky to be accepted into sophomore year because of your outstanding portfolio." Tsunade paused. "That, and I owe your father a favor."
Ah. Of course her father has something to do with it.
She continued. "This school has strict rules that need to be followed, Daichi. One of them being 100% attendance. You will get 3 warnings before you are expelled. This is your first warning. Next time you are sick, you are required to bring in a doctor's letter. Am I understood?"
"Yes, ma'am." The poor girl was so close to peeing in her pants.
"Go to your dorms and start school tomorrow. You are dismissed."
Mai swore that she had never run so fast in her life before than that point of time.
Once she was out of the teacher's building, she quickly made her way past the main building, where she would be having lessons, to the dorms. There were 3 main dorm buildings, all of which are white. Each building consisted of 2 floors. The first floor was the living room and the second floor had 6 rooms.
At first, she wondered if there were enough rooms for everybody, but then she was reminded that this was the most prestigious school in Japan. There was an unsurprising small number of students, as expected from the best of the best of schools.
The building was very modern and Mai was reminded of the fancy hotel her family used to visit in Australia when Daichi and she were 6 years old. Now, their parents were too busy to bring their children out on trips. And she had to admit she missed them.
Mai went to dorm building 1, where Daichi's note said. Her room was 126. Building 1, second story, room 6. She walked past the sliding door into the dorm, her eyes widening at the luxurious living room. There was a pool table at the left of the room, and behind it was a kitchen counter and a refrigerator big enough to keep her alive for two months if there was a zombie apocalypse. There were 2 flat televisions on the left and right walls of the room, 3 giant sofas settling in front of each of them.
She stared in awe at the ridiculously fancy furniture. Mai quickly walked to the flight of stairs at the far end of the room, side stepping the big dining table at the center of the room.
Mai stared at her incredibly large luggage, then back at the stairs, and then back at her luggage. She sighed, wondering what made her love Daichi so much.
The brunette lifted the luggage, and oh my god why was it so heavy, with her right hand while her left held onto the school map. She took careful steps.
She really did. And she could've sworn that the banana peel wasn't there before.
Her right foot slid onto the banana peel, sending her backwards in slow motion. The luggage fell out of her hands and plummeted down the stairs. A scream was stuck in her throat as her eyes squeezed shut in fear.
Even in the situation of life and death, Mai still had the mind to curse Daichi.
Out of nowhere, a hand snatched her upper arm from above, pulling her upwards. The force of the pull was so strong it sent her colliding into the person's body, knocking both of them onto the ground. Mai was thankful that both of them had landed on the second floor and not on the stairs, otherwise that would've been painful.
Her eyes flew open at the pained groan coming from her savior. Mai quickly pulled away from the awkward position where she was straddling him, rolling to the side.
"I'm sorry!" She exclaimed. The boy who saved her slowly sat up, his bright yellow hair swaying with the motion. His right hand clutched his head. Mai took note that he was wearing the white collared uniform with the first two buttons undone, showing a blue crystal necklace. His shirt was messily untucked, his sleeves folded up to his elbow.
Mai quickly rushed to his side.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt? What am I saying, of course you're hurt! Do you need to be sent to the hospital? I know a lot of hospitals. My dad always brought me there when I was younger. " She rambled, a habit of hers whenever she was nervous. Daichi always told her that she was nicer and a lot cuter when she was nervous, compared to her constant scowling face.
The boy turned towards her, his ocean blue eyes staring into her green ones. A grin found its way onto his face, before giving her a thumbs up.
"A little bit of headache, but nothing I can't handle!" He said confidently, his chest puffing out.
"Are you sure?" Mai asked hesitantly.
"Yeah!" The teen nodded feverishly.
"Thanks for helping me, um..." She trailed off.
"Uzumaki Naruto." He grinned, extending out his right hand for her to shake. "Are you a new student? I've never seen you around before."
"Kojima Daichi." Mai replied easily, shaking his hand. "And yes I'm new here."
Naruto brightened up. "Awesome! We've never had a new student here since freshman year. You're going to love it here."
Mai gave a doubtful laugh. "I hope so."
Naruto slung an arm around her shoulders and she stiffened. "We're gonna be best buddies, Daichi, I can feel it."
When Mai didn't reply him, Naruto continued hesitantly. "I'll help you with the luggage. A small guy like you with a luggage your size. What do you have in there?" He joked.
Her mouth involuntarily twitched upwards. As much as she hated to admit, his happiness was infectious. "A big secret."
Naruto laughed loudly before quickly fetching her bag downstairs, carrying it up with great ease Mai couldn't help but feel envious of.
He stood in front of her, his 5'9 form towering hers. "What's your room number?" Naruto asked, his blue eyes flashing to the school map in her hands.
"126." Mai replied, leaning forward to grab her luggage.
"126?" Naruto repeated excitedly, bringing the luggage out of her reach. He led her down the hallway to what she supposed would be her room.
"That's great!" He beamed. "So you're our new roommate!"
Mai abruptly paused her steps from Naruto's side and he curiously turned to look at her. Her eyes were unhealthily wide, Naruto thought, and there was something similar to the horror that flashed through her eyes.
"Roommate?"
Author's Note:
This story is strongly inspired by She's the Man.
Konoha High for Boys is also published in Wattpad under the username KonohaLover.
Hope you guys liked the first chapter. Tell me what you think!
Thanks for reading!