Evanescence
Chapter One
Snow...
As snow softly fall in the crisp air of winter, I wait, in the midst of the white meadow, the sky thick with grey clouds. I cannot think of what I am waiting for, yet I'm sure I know it. But no matter what I try to do to recall, all I see is the whiteness of snow; so innocent, yet so very cruel.
So I wait.
And in the distance, a figure runs towards me.
A boy... A boy, smiling and waving towards me. A boy with silky dark hair; a boy I knew not of.
Yet I speak with him, I laugh with him, as if we were the best of friends.
Who is he?
I finally bring myself together and ask for his name. The boy smiles and starts to say something, but his voice was lost under a sudden ringing in the distance, getting louder second by second.
Then, suddenly the snow faded to darkness, and the boy along with it.
"Ugh," I give a grunt as I pull my sheets over my head and bury my face in my pillow, one of my arms groping for the source of the irritating, high pitched ringing. I finally manage to turn it off.
Let me sleep five more minutes... just let me ask for his name...
RIIING!!!
"That damned alarm clock!!!" I shout in frustration and jump straight out of my bed, and instantly regretted it when the cold air pierced my skin.
"This is Konoha, for god's sake, not some place in the deep north! And in the middle of spring, too! So much for global warming..." Seriously, by the looks of it, we're going through a one-way road to Ice Age.
Never mind that; it's already 7:25, and I have 5 minutes to get to my Academy. I need to get ready and fast. I throw on my short, midnight blue kimono that goes up to just right above my knees, and put on white legging at the same time. I hastily tie the cream and apricot colored obi, finalizing it with a thin lilac rope. I tie my shoulder-length black hair up into a high ponytail, brush my teeth and wash my face, and rush out the front door; the long sleeves of my kimono fluttering in the wind under the bright sun.
"Chiharu, you're late again!" a loud voice yells at me as I enter my classroom. "That's the third time this week!"
Well, it's not exactly my fault that I've been having weird dreams lately. Is it?
"I'm sorry, Iruka sensei. I'll try to be on time from now," I say sheepishly, emphasizing the word "try."
My teacher sighed. "You know, Chiharu, it's okay now, but once you graduate from the academy and become a real ninja, you can't afford to be late for missions."
Hm, what a nice day outside...
"CHIHARU!" Iruka sensei starts yelling again, and I cover my ears with my hands. "Pay attention, would you?!"
"Not so loud, sensei!" I take my time and slowly put down my hands. I take a deep breath, and start to answer my dear teacher. "Don't worry, sensei, I'll take care of the missions when I actually get assigned to them."
I hear my teacher sigh, as if given up on me, mumbles something, and says, "Next time you're late, it's bathroom cleaning duty for you."
Yuck. I shall never be late ever again, Iruka sensei.
Trust me on that.
I don't blame him though—Iruka sensei, I mean. If I was a teacher like him, I would have given up on myself, too. But the fact is that I am me and not a teacher. And I don't see the big deal about being late a couple of minutes. The beginning of the class is usually just some nominal announcements, anyways.
As I walk towards my seat, I can hear low whispers and giggles coming from the girls of my class.
"What a loser," I hear one say. But it'll take a lot more than a word to hurt me. Words are nothing. I ignore the comments, and sit down in my seat. I try to focus on Iruka sensei, and block out the sounds because what I can't hear can't hurt me. Iruka sensei is slightly tanned, with his slightly brown black hair tied up in a short ponytail and still young. He's pretty average, I guess, except I've always wondered whether or not he was born with that horizontal scar-like mark across his face.
"Class, no side-talks when I'm speaking," Iruka sensei said, and the class became quiet as they possibly can. "Later today, there will be the Academy graduation test, and I hope you are ready for it."
Uh oh...
"We will be—"
Suddenly, the classroom door slid open with a loud bang, as two other teachers came in, dragging a yellow haired boy wearing an orange jump suit.
"Iruka! Do you have any idea what your student did?!" one of the teachers screamed at Iruka sensei. Iruka sensei just stood there, eyes moving from the boy to the two teachers, and then back.
"Well, well, well, you guys are all cowards and don't have the guts to do what I did! I'm probably the only one here who could have done that!" the yellow haired boy makes a face, sticking out his lower lip and his eyes narrows into two lines as his chin stuck out at Iruka sensei.
"Why you little... Still not understanding the wrongs of your doing?!" another one of the teacher shouted. The yellow haired boy just merely made a "hmph" sound and turned his head away.
"Excuse me... but what exactly did Naruto do?" Iruka sensei asks, obviously, since he seems as confused as everyone in the class. But I don't really care, actually. I mean, come on, it's Naruto... he's always up to some pathetic things... Such an annoying brat, if you ask me.
"What did he do? What did he do?!" says one of the teachers, almost as if he was going to cry. "Look outside your window! You'll see what he did!"
As everyone (except for me and a few other people) turned their head towards the window, Naruto started laughing proudly. But not for long.
"YOU IDIOT!" Iruka sensei shout as his fist comes down, pounding Naruto on the head.
"OW! Iruka sensei, that hurt!" Naruto yells, his hands quickly rubbing the spot where Iruka sensei hit.
"You idiot, you deserve what ever coming your way!" Iruka sensei scolded, "How dare you draw graffiti on the Hokage Mountain?!"
Ah, so the Hokage Mountain now, eh? There are four faces carved in the rocky mountain at the border of the village; they are the First, Second, Third, and Fourth generation of Hokages of Konoha... What are Hokages, you ask? Well, I guess you can define them as the "leader" of the village; the strongest elite ninja who makes decision on political matters. Since Hidden Village of Leaf, Konoha, is located with in the Fire Country, we call our leader "Hokage," literally meaning the Shadow of Fire. In other countries, there are many different Kages as well. The Kages are greatly respected among their people, so I guess Naruto's going to be in a lot of trouble... well, he asked for it.
I can't help but turn my head to the window and try to see what the Face Carvings looked like now; I mean, you'll NEVER get to see this in your lifetime ever again!
So I do, and suddenly, laughter rushes up my throat from deep within my heart. I try to alleviate it by pretending that I'm coughing, but I can't help it. The proud looking faces of the Hokages were smeared with paint; white paint running out of their nostrils, pink flowers on their cheeks, and the eyes were finalized by purple paint as eye shadow and mascara. I burst out laughing, the sound of it echoing through the classroom as everyone turned to look at me.
Not smart of me.
Iruka sensei suddenly turns very red, and I bet you can see steam coming out from his ears if you looked carefully.
"Ha ha ha! Isn't it beautiful; my master piece!!!" Naruto exclaims as he proudly put his hands on his hips.
Shush, Naruto. Don't rub it in right in Iruka Sensei's already beet red face.
"You guys... You guys lack discipline!" Iruka sensei explods. "You! All of you will have a pop quiz on the transformation technique! Get in lines now, even if you already passed from last class!"
"What?! Are you serious?!" the class says in unison, and then slowly got up to form lines in the front. As I walk down the aisles of desks, I hear, "Gee, thanks a lot, Chiharu," and "It's all Naruto and Chiharu's fault!"
Well, I'm so very sorry. Really.
"Haruno Sakura, you're up first!" Iruka sensei says as a pink-haired girl with emerald eyes rush to the front of the class.
"Henge no Jutsu!" Sakura makes hand seals, and successfully transformed into Iruka sensei.
"Hmm, pretty good," Iruka sensei takes some notes in his grading sheet.
"Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun, did you see me? Weren't I great? Weren't I, weren't I?" Sakura clings on to Sasuke, dark eyed and haired, and fair-skinned boy, the supposedly "Hottie" in our class that every girl was after. Crazy fan girls, should I mention.
"Hmph," Sasuke replies arrogantly, eyes closed and hands in the pockets of his white shorts.
"Next up, Uchiha Sasuke!"
Sasuke calmly walked toward the front of the classroom, and performed the Jutsu as if it was as easy as breathing, gaining squeals from the girls in my class. Of course, Sasuke didn't notice (I bet he did; he's just pretending to be all-that and hard to get).
Oh well, what do you expect? He's from the Uchiha clan; one of the best clans of the village of Konoha, where they start training their children at a young age. That doesn't mean Sasuke has to be so cocky, though.
"Next..." Iruka sensei gives a short pause. "Naruto..."
"Oh yeah! Watch me do it the right way! Ha ha ha!"
Man, does he ever run out of hyper activeness even for a second?!
"Okay, here I go!" Naruto takes a deep breath "Oiroke no Jutsu!"
Suddenly, there is a puff of smoke around Naruto and when it disappears...
WHAT THE HECK?!
There is a naked girl (of course, the smoke covered certain areas) standing in the place where Naruto was. The air in the classroom gets as thick as butter, filled with an awkward silence. Until blood gushed out from Iruka sensei's nose, that is.
"YOU MORON! Don't make unnecessary techniques!" Iruka sensei shouts, as he stuffed tissue in his nose to stop the bleeding. "Independent study from now until lunch! Then you will be called individually to the room next door to take the graduation exam!" he said and left the classroom.
Yippie. We all know we'll be behaving our best and quietly studying. Not.
As soon as Iruka sensei left the room, all the girls stand up in perfect timing and crowds around Sasuke's desk.
"Sasuke-kun, are you free this weekend?"
"Go out with me, Sasuke-kun!"
"Want to have lunch with me, Sasuke-kun? I've made you something nice today!"
"No, he's having lunch with me, you snot-face!"
"Ack! How dare you slap me! Now you're going to have it!" says a fan girl, and she and her cronies get in a fight with the other fan girls' cronies, filled with hair pulling and face scratching.
How nice; I can sit here for an hour, listening to nothing but the beautiful voices of fanatical fan girls.
And plus, have you any idea how lucky I, Uchiha Chiharu, am to be the sister of the Mr. Popular Sasuke of the Uchiha clan?
Obviously, I was being sarcastic.