"Okaasan! No!" I shrieked, running around the house in a hurry as I tried to escape my mother's cruel tickling hands.
I was simply studying for a taijutsu exam that would take place during school when Okaasan had decided come in and told me I should take a break and relax. Instantly I told her I was busy and didn't have time for a break.
Oh, if only I hadn't said those few words, I thought just as I skidded into the kitchen which was most definitely a bad choice because the kitchen was a bit slippery after mopping. I ended up sliding so fast into a wall, my face getting the mere displeasure of being hit against it.
I let out a huge groan as my mother helped me up, looking at my face with a worried look. "Ahh, Yumi, are you alright?" Okaasan asked, obvious concern in her voice.
"Depends. Does my forehead look alright or do I have an ugly bruise?" I mumbled quietly and I could see a small smile making its way to Okaasan's face.
"It's fine," she assured me, with a warm smile. Then she glanced around, probably spotting what she was looking for and started toward the bag sitting on the table inside the room.
"Gee, thanks!" I said, grinning up at my mother who had just handed me my lunch bag. She smiled back at me, knowing why I was so excited.
Today was an exam day, meaning Okaasan had a special dish cooked up for me.
"You should get going, Yumi. You don't want to be late, do you?" Okaasan had asked me softly, bending down to kiss me on my forehead. "Have a wonderful day."
Something was wrong. I could see it in Okaasan's eyes, but instead, I chose to ignore the odd and wrapped my arms around my mother, hugging her tightly. "You have a great day too, Okaasan! I'll really enjoy your lunch!" I promised, wagging the lunch bag in front of her before starting toward the door.
"Yumina," I suddenly heard my mother say and I whirled around to look at her with a raised eyebrow. Okaasan seemed to be hesitating about something and I couldn't help but wonder if something was going on. "You'll do fine," Okaasan finally said, with a small, oddly sympathetic smile on her face.
I blinked, before flipping my short black hair over my shoulder grinning. "I know. I'm awesome at taijutsu," I bragged playfully, before opening the door and closing it behind me.
Perfect.
That was what I would call my taijutsu abilities. I would ace pretty much every taijutsu test and I wouldn't do so bad at shuriken either. I was different then everyone when it came to taijutsu. It felt as though I could do anything. Like I was the queen of this classroom. But of course, nobody else seemed to acknowledge my abilities and it seemed as though all the attention went to a certain person in this academy.
I continued to drum my fingers against my desk, watching in annoyance as the girls continued to fawn over Kakashi Hatake, who seemed to be trying his best to ignore their presence. Kakashi Hatake was a mysterious one, that was for sure.
For starters, he was always wearing that mask of his, which reached from his nose to neck. It covered up half of his face so I couldn't help but wonder why all the girls thought he was so handsome and dreamy. They didnes't even know what half of his face looked like.
I couldn't help but smirk at the thought of the boy pulling down his mask, letting it reveal an ugly scar that went from his nose to his chin. I wondered if he truly did hide most of his face because he was ugly, and then took that moment to squint at the boy.
I just can't figure him out.
"Oh, Kakashi! You're so cool!" one of the girls, whose name I had forgotten, gushed in a dreamy voice. "And so perfect and great at everything!" She added, her hands clasped together and her eyes shined brightly.
"Think so?" was his calm response and for some reason the girls all let out a dreamy sigh, or even some squeals. It made me sick to my stomach just watching them and I wish I could walk over and punch them in the head. What's so great about Kakashi anyway?
"Yeah!" another girl spoke up, smiling. Her smile seemed a tad bit wobbly and I wondered if she was trying her best to make herself look cute.
I could rememebr when I was just like those other girls, always fawning over Kakashi and talking about how cool he was. Until I realized how absurd I was acting. Placing my chin on my palm, I watched in annoyance as they all took turns talking to Mr. Perfect.
You're all beginning to get really annoying so can you please shut up?! I mentally screamed at her. I didn't really have the guts to say that to their faces without feeling a little guilty afterwards. Instead I looked away scoffing.
Out of all my time at the Academy, I hadn't made a single friend. Sometimes I would hang out with the boys of course but other than that I would just study alone. Of course, I did feel lonely at times, but I chose to ignore it as loneliness was simply a weakness to me.
Though, I still couldn't help but wish I was popular just like Kakashi. He acted as though it wasn't a big deal, but he had no idea how much he would miss his popularity if he were to trade places with me.
"Well, well. Is someone growing a crush on Kakashi?" said a girl in my class, who sat right behind me. I had never bothered to remember her name either and usually I would just call Beady-eyes because of her red-ruby eyes. She was one of the few girls in the academy who didn't pay any attention to Kakashi. "Didn't know you were like that, Yumi."
"It's Yumina to you, thanks," I replied, not bothering to respond to her first statement.
"What? Don't like nicknames?" Beady-eyes asked me curiously. "But I thought you did, since you didn't bother to acknowledge the fact that my name is Kurenai not Beady-eyes."
"Well, Kurenai is way too long of a name to remember," I told her, defensively. It did take me quite a long time to remember names so I just made up nicknames. "I have nothing against nicknames really."
But no one can call me Yumi other than Okaasan.
"And besides, don't think it went unnoticed that you spend an awful lot of time staring at Asuma," I pointed out, making a tint of crimson appear on her cheeks.
"No, it isn't like that," she said quickly, and I half-smile, knowing that she had already regretted teasing me. I wasn't done yet however.
"Oh?" I mused, cocking my head at her. Her red face made me want to burst out laughing but I really didn't want to draw any attention. "C'mon. All you ever do is stare at him. So what's that about, huh?"
"Shh!" she hissed, her face now beet red. "The only reason I even look at Asuma is because he's always making weird faces at me. That's it. Nothing else is going on."
Before I could open my mouth and say something else, the door flung open, and a few chunin entered, walking up to our sensei and whispering something quietly in his ear. At whatever they were saying, his eyes widened and he looked directly at me before quickly looking away.
"I'll take my leave now," said one of the chunin and he left, followed by the other two who were with him.
I stared at Sensei, who was struggling to pile up his papers neatly. "Do you think he just got fired?" I asked Beady-eyes, who shrugged in response.
"He looked at you so I'm guessing you're in trouble or something," she answered cooly. "Whatever you did, it must've been real bad if you got real ninja's to come to this place."
My stomach started to flutter. What did I do?
"Yumina Hanase?" our sensei, whose name I had still not memorized, called my name. I instantly turned my head in his direction, raising an eyebrow at his odd behavior. He seemed fidgety, as though he were afraid to say something. "Please, come .. come here."
I ignored the peculiar looks everyone was giving me and started in his direction slowly. For some reason, I felt numbers of nervous butterflies in my stomach but I chose to ignore them, and stared up at him quietly. Sensei didn't waste any time pushing up his glasses and bending down, whispering something so low I couldn't hear it.
"What?" I asked impatiently, the numbers of butterflies suddenly disappearing. "You're being so quiet. I can't hear you."
"Your mother . . . she uh, she passed away this morning," he whispered and suddenly a thousand butterflies had made their way into my stomach.
"What?" I said so low that I could barely hear myself. "What did you say?"
"Your mother is dead, Yumina. I'm sorry," he said sympathetically.