Name: Tachibana Miki
Height: 5"1
Weight: 110 lbs.
Looks: Light, Orange Hair (shoulder-length, spiky hair and hita-ite used as hairband which holds bangs back), Light Blue Eyes, Tan Skin
Kekkai Genkai: Find out later!
Pet Peeves: Jokes about her height, her height, frogs, the nickname "Kyokan" which means "giant."
Background events that helped shape life: Will be revealed!
Generally good or bad: Good
Goal: Find the truth about clan's disappearance. The answer lies closer than she thinks.
---
"What are you -- chicken?" Miki demands from a short boy surrounded by other kids.
They're all mashed inside a school hallway. A drip of sweat slides down the side of the boy's temples as he gulps noisily.
"The Kyokan wants to be hit, Takashi. Hit her!" A fat kid jeers from within the crowd.
Takashi tightens his shaking fists. Miki catches this and grimaces.
"I don't want to be hit, idiot!" She pulls a kunai from her holster then grins. "Use this."
Takashi catches the lobbed kunai and gapes at Miki. The kids gasp in disbelief.
"You're crazy!" Takashi yells.
"I'll show you! I'm not a liar, and I can prove it. I won't get hurt -- I swear!" Miki pleaded desperately.
Suddenly, "What is all this about?!" a teacher hollers from behind Miki.
The crowd scatters in different directions into different classroom doors, until all that's left is the teacher, Miki, and Takashi. Takashi drops the kunai, and raises his hands in defense.
"She begged me to try it." He explained.
Miki faces the glowering teacher.
"I just wanted to prove myself...before I left..to be a genin." She lowers her head, her bangs drape over her flooding eyes.
The male teacher, with short, brown hair, places his palm on Miki's shoulder.
"You don't need to prove yourself, Miki. Look, you're graduating to a genin. What more needs to be proven?" The man asks in a light tone.
Miki sniffles and wipes the tears off her face. Other than that, she stays quiet and glares at the floor. Takashi starts rearing away from the two.
"Whatever, man. I still say she's a liar." He sneers before running away.
Miki huffs, slaps the teacher's hand off, and sprints out of the hallway in th opposite direction.
---
The Next Day
Miki is sitting behind a bruised and steaming Naruto in Iruka's classroom.
"Starting today, all of you are real shinobi." Iruka announces. He's in front of the class holding a piece of paper behind his back. "But you are still genin. The hard journey that lies ahead has just started."
Miki trembles for a short while, before pulling herself together. 'This is really it.'
"Now you will soon get missions to help the village." Iruka continues. "So, we will create three-man teams, and each --"
A male chuunin abruptly walks into the class and up to Iruka. He whispers in his ear, and hands a piece of paper to him before leaving quietly. Iruka watches the man leave in mild shock before continuing.
"Oh. I'm sorry. It looks as if there will be one four-man team...in addition to the three-man teams, of course." He adds. Iruka scurriedly reads the handed paper. 'So, it's true...Strange. Why would Sandaime allow a four-man team?' He brings the paper behind him and clears his throat. "Each team will have a jounin-sensei. You will follow your sensei's instructions in order to succesfully complete your missions.
Miki groans. 'Great. I hope I'm not in the four-man team. That'd just be a heck more trouble for me.' She lets her eyes wander around the class. 'Anyway, if I were to be in a team, I sure as hell wouldn't want to be with Naruto. Or Sakura for that matter. But, to be in Sasuke's team would mean fate.' She sighs with sparkles in her eyes.
'Pfft..Three-man teams? That only means more people in my way.' Sasuke thinks to himself as he interlinks his fingers.
Sakura, who is between Naruto and Sasuke, pumps her fist in determination. 'I just have to be in the same team as Sasuke-kun!'
Naruto rests his head on his hand in thought. 'Hmm. I want to be with Sakura-chan..and anyone besides Sasuke!' He peeks over his shoulder at Miki. 'Anyone besides Kyokan, too.'
Miki catches this, and snaps out of dream world. Veins pop out of her temples. "What are you looking at, shorty?!" She yells.
Naruto bolts from his seat with veins the size of his face bursting out, "What did you call me?!"
"HEY!" Iruka shouts. "Calm down, you two! We don't need anymore of this today."
Naruto sits back down while Miki folds her arms in spite. Iruka contently proceeded. "Now as I was saying, we tried to balance each team's strength."
"WHAT?!" The class outbursted in shock.
Unbothered, Iruka went down his list. Sooner than later, he would get down to Miki's team. "Ok..Next is Team Seven: Tachibana Miki, Uchiha Sasuke --"
"LUCKY!" Miki bolted upright with her thumb in the air. A victorious grin spread across her face. Sasuke sat unfazed.
"Haruno Sakura--"
"CHA!" Sakura does the same except with two fists held up high.
Miki shoots bolts of lightning against the back of Sakura's head with her eyes. But, they fall like flakes against Sakura's shining shield of sheer joy. Miki gives up and drops her head in defeat.
"And finally, Uzumaki Naruto."
Sakura, in return, drops into her seat with her head sunk low.
"YEAH!" Naruto repeats the same action as Sakura when she was happy.
Miki crashes onto the floor. Her face as pale and old-looking as a zombie's. Naruto blinks then frowns.
"Wait a minute! IRUKA-SENSEI!! WHY DOES AN OUTSTANDING SHINOBI LIKE ME HAVE TO BE ON THE SAME TEAM AS THOSE PRICKS OVER THERE?!!" He bawls pointing at both Miki and Sasuke.
Miki stands up. "IRUKA-SENSEI, NARUTO AND SAKURA THE WORST SHINOBI I'VE EVER MET! WHY PUT ME ON THE SAME TEAM?!"
Iruka is surprised by this outburst. He frowns then places his hands on his hips in a 'I'm about to lecture you' sort of fashion. "Naruto! Sasuke's grades were the best of all 28 graduates and yours were DEAD LAST. Miki! Sakura is the smartest of all the graduates, while you haven't retained the smallest bit of information I've taught to you. You do understand we have to do this to balance the teams right?"
"Bah." Sasuke nearly dismisses. "Just don't get in my way, Dobe."
Naruto trembles in anger. "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!!"
"KYOKAN!!" Sakura calls at Miki enraged.
"TRY COMING CLOSER, WITH THAT HUGE FOREHEAD, AND SAY THAT TO MY FACE!!" Miki screams infuriatingly.
"I WOULD IF I COULD REACH IT!!" Sakura remarks.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!!" Miki and Sakura shoot equally powerful lightning bolts at each other with their eyes.
Iruka sweatdrops. "Okay, this afternoon we'll introduce your jounin senseis. Until then, take a break." He tries to squeeze in meekly.
Sakura and Miki still go along with their bantering, which makes Iruka sweatdrop again.
---
"DAMN, THAT SAKURA!" Miki curses walking atop the shingles of a roof. '...Payback is a witch -- and that witch's name is Miki! Hehe.'
---
"*Sigh.*" Sakura places her elbows on her knees and rests her chin in her hands. 'Even if I go after him using my looks, my body proportions are below average. The only thing above average is the size of my forehead. How can I..' "What the-!"
"Payback time, Sakura!" Miki yells, launched in mid-air, as she slams duct tape onto Sakura's mouth and lands on the back of the bench.
She pivots and quickly pushes Sakura off the bench. Sakura lands on her forehead, before screaming outrageously at Miki into the duct tape. Unfortunately, all that could be heard was the language of 'I've been muted with a duct tape!', which consists mostly of 'HMM!' and 'MM!'
"Don't take this personally. You'd do the same." Miki states, grinning evilly, and pulling out from behind her heaps of rope.
She cackled wickedly as lightning struck all around her, and winds gushed through her hair. Her eyes were paper-blank. Probably, because at the moment she didn't have a soul.
Moments later, after throwing Sakura over the stone fence behind the bench.
"Henge no Jutsu!" Miki called.
Poof! Puffs of clouds wafted away to reveal 'Sakura'. She grinned and poked over the fence with an evil grin. The real Sakura laid helpless and angry as ever. "Watch me exact intelle..." Miki halts, then says slowly "I-n-t-e-l-l-ectual revenge, Sakura." She smirks at her accomplishment. "MWUAHAHA!!" She cackles as she slowly pulls out of Sakura's view.
'CHA! I'll kill her!' Inner Sakura screams.
Miki brushed herself off, and suddenly teetered forward. "Woah!" She waved her hands around, trying to balance herself. "Your forehead is bigger than I thought, Sakura."
Sakura's temple bulged in response. Miki could tell anyway, so she finally got her balance and sat on the bench. 'Now, all I have to do is wait for -- Sasuke? Oh my god, he's staring at me!'
Miki felt like floating as her eyes began to glitter. 'Sasuke' was leaning on the tree across. Then she frowned in realization. 'Wait a minute. I'm Sakura for now. So, that means he's staring at Sakura -- crap!'
Miki closed her eyes then inhaled for a while and then exhaled. "Game on." She whispers.
"You sure have a large, charming forehead." 'Sasuke' says out of nowhere which freaks Miki out. "Makes me want to kiss it."
She sweatdrops when she realizes what he just said. 'N-no way. You've got to be kidding me.' This catches the wriggling Sakura's attention, and causes her to stop.
'Is that who I think it is?'
Miki quickly retaliates, "Oh! Please don't, Sasuke-kun! You'll get infected with my uncool nerdiness."
She says unnecessarily loudly so Sakura can hear. Sakura does, and she starts wriggling and screaming frantically.
'No! She's ruining it for me!' She glowers as the edge of her eye glints. 'I'll kill her.' She repeats, but this time more bent on accomplishing it.
"Haha, I'm just kidding. That sounds like something only Naruto would say." 'Sasuke' chuckles.
But that strikes a chord with 'Sakura'. She watches 'Sasuke' with slit, suspicious eyes as he walks over to the bench, and sits down. 'Weird. Sasuke doesn't usually compare himself to Naruto..or chuckles, for that matter.'
"Sakura, there is something I want to ask you. What do you think of Naruto?"
'Sakura' is caught off guard, and blurts loudly, "HE'S AN ANNOYING IDIOT!"
'Sasuke' lowers his eyes, and mumbles, "I see."
But then 'Sakura' comes up with an idea. "Uhh. He's an annoying idiot, but..but I think I could fall in love with him."
The real Sakura, after hearing this, goes crazy under the ropes and tape. She starts banging on the concrete wall with her feet ferociously.
'CHAAAAAAA!'
'Sasuke', though, doesn't notice. He smiles widely. 'Sakura' continues by adding. "Did you hear what I said? Well, don't bother coming after me, because I'm just waiting for the right time to be with Naru-"
Suddenly, 'Sasuke's' face scrunches up. 'Sakura' frowns. "I'll be right back!" He yells her before grabbing his stomach and running off.
'Sakura' sighs. 'What a waste of time.' She climbs over the stone fence and rips the duct tape off of Sakura's face. Miki undoes her jutsu and slaps her hand onto Sakura's mouth, before she could bitch.
"Look, Sakura. I can see I've made a big mistake. You can talk to..Sasuke if you want. I am.." Miki's right eyebrow starts twitching. "..really sorry I ever started this stupid plan."
Sakura is surprised, and calms down a little. Miki sees this and removes her palm. "That was a pretty stupid thing to do." Sakura restates with a hint of anger in her tone. Miki nods in agreement.
'Especially, since that wasn't Sasuke at all!' Miki disappointingly decides. "I'll untie you." She offers with a deceiving smile, and starts doing so.
---
Sakura squeals as she spots Sasuke approaching her and Miki. "Ah, Sasuke! Ignore everything I just said before. You can go on with what you were trying to say!" Sakura urges.
Miki rolls her eyes. 'It's no use, idiot! That isn't even Sasuke. But who would be going around looking like Sasuke, anyway?'
Sasuke stops, and starts looking around. "I have to go. Where's Naruto?" He asks.
Miki snaps her fingers in realization. "Aha! Naruto -- that idiot!" She blurts without noticing.
Then she turns her glare to who she thought was Naruto. Sasuke, though, doesn't notice.
"Hehe. Don't change the subject." Sakura giggles eagerly. "Who cares about Naruto? All he does is cause fights with you. Well, he doesn't have a normal childhood. Did you know? He doesn't have parents!"
Miki pulls her head to face Sakura. She frowns. "So what if he doesn't have parents?" A trace of fury was heard in her voice.
Even so, Sakura didn't catch it. "He can do whatever he wants. If I acted like that my parents would ground me for months. He's so lucky, all alone-"
Miki abruptly grabs Sakura's shirt by the collar, and bears her teeth like an angry animal. Her nose was scrunched up, and her eyes were filled with hate mixed with sorrow. "DON'T EVER SAY THAT!"
Sakura is shocked. "W-what?"
Miki shoved her back, then pulled her closer while still grasping Sakura's collar. "THERE'S NOTHING LUCKY ABOUT BEING ALL ALONE!!" She screams.
She pushes Sakura back, and walks away. Sakura stands there, and tries to regain her pride.
"What's her problem, huh?" She tries to joke.
"All alone..." Sasuke begins.
"Huh?" Sakura voices confused.
"The feeling of a parent yelling at you is nowhere near what he feels." Sasuke explains. Sakura shows she is still confused.
"What's wrong Sasuke-kun?" She asks nervously. Sasuke turns to look at Sakura.
"You're annoying." He states before walking away as well.
Sakura is frozen in shock and bewilderment. Inside the building's hallways, Miki is waiting for Sasuke. She walks up to him, thinking he's Naruto, and tells him, "Listen, I'm sorry, you had to hear that. You know, just because Sakura likes Sasuke that doesn't mean you aren't as good as he is. I mean, you're annoying, but hey, you seem more straight, huh Naruto?" Miki continuously nudges 'Naruto' with a toothy grin.
Sasuke sweatdrops and just glares at Miki. Miki stops, and puts her hands on her sides. "Hello! That was a compliment, Naruto!"
Sasuke's right eyebrow twitches as he glowers. "I'm not Naruto, you idiot!"
"Sasuke?" Naruto yells from behind Miki. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
Horror overcomes Miki as she dreads at her choice of words. A dark blue shade draped over her eyes. She heaves her finger to point at Sasuke. "S-so, you were y-you this whole t-t-time?"
Sasuke just replies with his glare. Miki slowly turns her head to look at Naruto. Her eyes were lacked pupils. "This is all your fault."
Naruto sweatdrops. He asks innocently, "What did I do?"
A huge vein popped off Miki's forehead. "YOU PRETENDED TO BE SASUKE THIS WHOLE TIME!"
Naruto scratches the back of his head nervously. "Who told you that?"
Miki's face turns maniacal as she lunges at the terrified Naruto. 'Why is it always me?!'
---
In the apartment of the currently-being-beaten-up-Naruto, Kakashi and the Hokage were wandering into the kitchen. "So, this is where Naruto lives?" Kakashi inquires as he picks a carton of milk up.
"Yes." Sandaime replies.
Kakashi goes over the written numbers on the carton. 'This milk went bad a couple of days ago.' Kakashi reviews inwardly.
"Naruto, isn't very smart." Sandaime states. "But I think giving him to you is best; you have a nose for these types. Speaking of types, Miki is also going to be on your team. Not very smart, either, but she has a curious bloodline that could help if you have trouble with Naruto."
"Did you say, Miki? Tachibana Miki? Isn't she the girl they found with her head half-blown off?" Kakashi asks.
Sandaime nods. "She made it through, somehow. What catches my attention is her clan."
"What about them?"
Sandaime pauses for a moment. "They've gone missing. The whole entire Tachibana clan, the largest clan in Konoha, has gone missing. No dead bodies or anything. And to make it stranger, they leave behind a half-headed toddler." He shuts his eyes in thought. "I remember when they first brought her to me."
Kakashi observes Sandaime before continuing. "So, is there anyone else I should know about?"
"Well, you do have Sasuke of the Uchiha Clan. Good Luck!" Sandaime finishes.
A small sweat bullet drips down Kakashi's face. 'This could be troublesome.' "Yes, sir."