Hidden Cloud

Chapter One - miiika

Today, I talked to the Uchiha kid again. As usual, he ignored be and retreated back towards his temple of sulkiness. What happened to the happy-go-lucky kid he once was? Back then he was so friendly and so cute, now he's just an ass. I wondered what happened to him, or maybe he was always secretly a jerk. .

"Akina!" Nakamuri Akina closed her notebook and lifted her head lazily, instantly spotting a tall boy running towards her. His blonde hair was tussled from the wind and his lips were parted - revealing a mischievous grin. The boy's emerald eyes shone with delight as he stopped in front of his companion.

"Again with the notebook?" His eyes looked at the notebook with distain before jabbing towards the Academy with his thumb. "Ishikawa -sensei said we have no missions today. How about a round of who-will-pass -the-Genin-exam?"

Akina sighed, running her finger across the worn pages of her notebook. "Hikaru, you know that I always win." The first few rounds of playing the game with -- was actually quite amusing, but the more she played it, the more she begun to hate the game.

"Oh, come on! It'll be fun!" Hikaru whined, yanking the slender girl to her feet. Hikaru stumbled as she regained her balance and glared at the jesting boy. "Ryuichi didn't want to come outside today. He said something about 'the air being foul with filth'."

"Typical." She replied with a roll of her eyes. "He never wants to hang out with us after missions anyways." Akina was considered to be the luckiest girl in town to be placed on the same squad with the two most sought after bachelors in Konoha, but to be honest, it was a pain in the ass.

It was like both boys had two different sides - and unfortunately for Akina, they always seemed to show her the worst of themselves. Ito Hikaru was serious when it came to missions and they always completed mission a day or two before the given time, but as soon as the mission was over, he reverted back to the annoying, clumsy idiot he was.

Kurosawa Ryuichi was probably the most bipolar person she had ever met. During their Academy days, she remembered he always stayed back to help those who needed help with the written portion of the exams. He was kind, gentle and oh-so-popular with the ladies.

Too bad Ryuichi was actually a hot-headed, foul-mouthed jerk who always said the right things to bring down her self-esteem. She would pay someone a million dollars if the girls who confessed to Ryuichi during their Academy days still harbored the same feelings after meeting his 'true self'.

"So, I'm thinking that Naruto kid will become a Genin this year." Hikaru was saying as they took the direct route towards the Academy.

"Hm. ." Akina replied absentmindedly, burying her head within her notebook as she jotted down notes as they passed by the town people. Matsuoka was having an affair with her husband, Nishimura was thinking about moving to a nearby village and Ueno's son was about to become a Jounin. .

Hikaru stopped talking when he realized that Akina's responses were filled with 'Hms' and 'I see'. He frowned in annoyance and yanked the notebook from the girl's hands. Akina blinked in shock, before her eyes narrowed dangerously.

No one ever took her notebook without her permission. "Hikaru. .Give me back my notebook." She growled, her violet eyes flashing as she advanced towards him. Hikaru's expression remained flat as the corner of his lips curled in amusement.

"Oh, so the great Nakamuri Akina is useless without her notebook?" He taunted, lifting the object overhead knowing that Akina's mere 5 foot stature wasn't comparable to his height.

Akina's lips tugged into a frown. How dare he take her possessions away from her! That notebook served as a basis for her attacks in battle. Without her knowledge of the enemy's weakness, how were they suppose to effectively win?

Her physical strength wasn't exactly on par to Hikaru's and she didn't excel in Genjutsu like Ryuichi did. She preferred to use her mind over her physical strength. In a way, she was just like Haruno Sakura. Expect, Akina was an older, better-looking Sakura.

Akina sharply inhaled and closed her eyes. She could sense Hikaru look at her curiously as the words she had written in her notebook at some point appeared in her mind. The letters swirled in her head and formed an invisible path to Hikaru's doom.

She snapped her eyes open, "Every morning, you wake up and kiss the poster of the local idol Fuji Rena."

Akina smirked as Hikaru turned a brilliant shade of red that could rival Ryuichi's scarlet hair. "And when you had the opportunity to meet her last summer, you rejected it because you were afraid that-" Hikaru muffled her words with his hands, his eyes darting around the empty streets for anyone who might have overheard her.

"Okay, okay! You made your point already! Here, take back your notebook okay?!" He whispered feverishly, slamming the notebook in her hands as he focused his eyes on the ground. Akina smiled in triumph, flipping open her notebook as she proceeded to write her daily observances on the townspeople.

"I swear, one day, that notebook is going to get you in serious trouble." He muttered as he took angry stride towards the Academy. Akina blissfully ignored his warning as she continued to scribble illegible notes. Her mother always told her that one day, curiosity would kill the cat, but Akina didn't understand how it correlated to her.

It wasn't as if she was curious to know about people's daily lives, she just happened to be at the same place at the same time. She didn't see herself as curious, but she rather saw herself as a mindful observer. It was a wonder what one could figure out by overhearing a conversation. For a village nearly full of powerful ninjas, they weren't so secretive when it came to secrets.

"You're just upset that I found out about your little secret." Akina stated calmly, closing her notebook as the duo entered the building. The hallways were silent as classes were still in session. Akina looked around in mild curiosity as Hikaru took large strides towards his intended classroom.

He was angry and desperate to get away from her. Akina snorted, choosing to walk a more leisure pace as she looked through the classroom doors. The students paid no attention to her and their eyes were glued on their sensei - who drone on about substitution clones.

Akina smiled as she caught up with Hikaru, who was crouched in front of Iruka-sensei's door. Genins were getting smaller and smaller each year, but their desire to become a ninja became stronger with their decrease in stature.

"So," -- said in a quiet whisper, his emerald eyes scanning to students in the room. The incident that took place just five minutes ago was wiped from his memory. Unlike the other classroom, this class seemed to be more lively and the students inside were chattering. "Who do you think?"

"Everyone."

"You have to pick someone that fails." He reminded her, keeping his voice low to be undetected by Iruka-sensei, who was currently telling the students how important the Genin exams were.

"You said we were playing who-was-going-to-pass-the-Genin-exam." Akina retorted, also keeping her voice at a low whisper. Who knew what Iruka-sensei would do if he saw his former students crouched in front of the classroom door?

"Well, I'm changing the game, so answer the question!"

Akina fought the urge to slam Hikaru's head on the wall and thought over the possibilities. She hadn't really bothered to watch the students fight before because she found it too troublesome and boring to collect information about mere Academy students.

But, if she was to narrow down the choices, her best bet would be Uzumaki Naruto. She didn't know much about the hyperactive kid, but according to the villagers, he would much rather spend his time pulling pranks than studying ninjutsu.

'A desperate cry of attention. .' Akina silently thought as she stared at the boy through the window. She caught Iruka-sensei's eyes flicker towards the door and immediately ducked her head. "Uzumaki." She said firmly, leaping to her feet as she jumped out of the nearest window.

The boy was puzzled by his teammates sudden action and turned his head back into the classroom. Hikaru sweat dropped when he saw his former teacher staring down at him in curiosity. "--? What are you doing here? I thought Hokage-sama sent Ryuichi to watch the class."

Hikaru gritted his teeth as he forced a dazzling smile to Iruka-sensei. That bastard! Hikaru knew something was fishy when Ryuichi suggested for him to play the game with Akina earlier that day. Ryuichi thought that they had better things to do rather than just play guessing games all day. "Well, it doesn't matter anyways." Iruka-sensei sighed, sliding the door open as he motioned for Hikaru to come inside.

"You'll be fine, I'll only be gone for ten minutes." Iruka-sensei reassured, patting the Chunin's shoulder as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Hikaru stood at the door, dazed at the sudden turn of events. He was hoping to spend his day off doing something fun, but somehow, he was swindled into watching a group of snot-nosed Academy kids.

Hikaru sighed, slumping against the wall. This was going to be a long ten minutes.