Pisces: It with great pleasure that I introduce all y'all to the newest story of my little collection, The Puppeteer's Sister. I hope you enjoy :)

CHAPTER ONE - LET THE LAST LUNCH END

"Late again," my friend, Yomine, whined, "Sometimes I wonder if Kakashi-sensei is really a teacher here…"

"Can't complain," I muttered, thinking to myself, 'And this is why I wanted to join the AP class…Goshdangit. ARRRRRGGGGHHH. Normal classes are the worst.'

I didn't have a lot against normal classes. It was just that I didn't like being in an environment in which people throw stuff around and make crude jokes. Plus, normal classes have these kinds of people:

"I FINALLY UNDERSTAND NOW!" my classmate, Rock Lee, exclaimed, holding up his copy of the stupid math textbook as if it were a message from God.

Yeah. Those kinds of people.

You may be wondering why my friend, Yomine, the 1st year student, is in my math class. Well, the answer is quite simple; AP. They didn't have enough space for AP classes with the small amount of students wanting to do AP, and they didn't want to do afterschool classes due to clubs, so they did a speed-course of the class they were supposed to take the month before school, and then they were upped a grade in that class.

You may also be wondering who we are. Well, my name is Sayaka. I don't have a last name due to my being adopted and my refusal to take up their last name. I am in my 2nd year of high school and I attend Konoha High. I stand at about 4' 9", hence making me the shortest in my class. That means nothing, though. I am quite intelligent. I have two AP courses this year; Science and Language Arts. I don't like to talk about it, though…Really, I don't like to talk at all. At least not around people I don't like or don't respect. I speak with a notebook and pen around new people and people I don't like.

Now, Yomine Kuroyuki, she's the opposite of me. She's tall and really, REALLY pretty. As said before, she's a 1st year here, and she has one AP class. Well, she's not the complete opposite of me. She's really smart, too. It's just that she's a bit more open with people. Rambunctious, even, but only around those she trusts. And she's also more…well, active. It seems to me that after I had welcomed her into my dorm, she had taken control. And I was fine with that. I take orders better than I can give them.

And when I say she's pretty, I really mean it. She's got the prettiest violet eyes, and though she's pale like me, she makes it look like she isn't dying, unlike me. And she's got a beautiful hourglass figure, too. She also has long black hair with purple and red streaks/tips. It works well with her punk Lolita-like style. Even now, she's somehow incorporated her style into the uniform. She has the usual 1st year uniform consisting of the black sweater, a white blouse, a dark blue pleated skirt, and a dark blue tie. She has added a black choker, a thick black belt, and a few chain belts connected to the black belt. She also wears black combat boots and black knee high socks with a dark blue stripe near the top.

I can't deny that I envy her confidence. After all, I hide in my uniform. My black sweater is many sizes too large, but I like it like that. The rest of my uniform is like a regular 2nd year student's; I have the white blouse, the red skirt (though it is a bit longer than most and it goes to a few inches above my knees), black knee high socks, and the brown school shoes. I had chosen to wear the red bow rather than the tie, though.

I sighed loudly, attempting to grab a pencil from my school bag.

Stupid sleeves. I can slap a guy an arm's length plus half a foot away from me with these things, but I can't even grab a pencil? Stupid.

I sighed again, rolling up only my left sleeve to grab that stupid pencil. I also decided to grab a book, since Kakashi-sensei looks like he's gonna be a while.

Man, this is taking him longer than usual. I wonder what's up. Oh, speak of the devil and he shall appear. Look who just walked in.

"Hello class. I hope I didn't keep you waiting. You see, I got sidetracked on the path of life and-" our silver-headed teacher looked around at the unamused class, "Well, I see that you are all here. I want to introduce you to some new faces."

Two new faces walked in. One had purple lines drawn on his face with makeup and was wearing a black hoodie rather than a sweater and a red tie. He had a smirk on his face. The other looked completely serious. He had black eyeliner ringed around his sea foam green eyes and vibrant red hair. He had a red tattoo on his forehead that said…"Love", I think. His uniform was the standard boy uniform and he had a blue tie.

"These will be your new classmates from now on," Kakashi-sensei said rather cheerfully, "Why don't you two introduce yourselves?"

"My name is Kakuro," the one with the hoodie said, "And this is my brother Gaara. We're both from Suna High." At this, many of the girls started swooning.

Well, they were swooning when they walked in, but now this was hardcore swooning, man.

WHY AM I NOT IN AP?! GOSHDANGIT! FANGIRLS! ROOOOAAAARRRR! MAN, I HATE FANGIRLS.

From the corner of my eye, I caught a red flash in Yomine's eyes; the corner of my mouth lifted slightly.

Oh, this means something quite important. I can feel it.

Well, of course. Yomi's eyes don't turn red unless she's feeling a really strong emotion, and from what it looks like to me, it seems as if my young friend has a CRUSH on the NEW GUY!

"Well, with that out of the way, we can get started. Why don't you two take a seat by Sayaka and Yomine. Sayaka, Yomine, can you please raise your hands?" We did so. The kid with the black hoodie took a seat behind me, and the kid with red hair sat beside Yomine.

I think she just died internally fangirling.

"Which one of you is Sayaka?" kid with black hoodie - Oh, right. Kankuro – said. I turned around to look at him, and then raised my hand hesitantly. He grinned, "Well, aren't you a pretty face. Hey there, Sayaka. Guess who's going to be in most of your classes?" I raised my eyebrow at this, and then scribbled something on a sheet of notebook paper. I then tossed it behind me at him. It read, "Then I wish you the best of luck, Kankuro." Now that that was out of the way, I can focus on today's lesson.

Apparently it was about factoring Quadratics. Easy stuff, really. Just cute little "U"s and unhappy faces on graphs. They are beautiful, really, and as is math.

"Psst, Sayaka." Oh, god. Was that Kankuro? Geez, what does he want now? I turned around and shot him an annoyed expression, holding up a sheet of notepaper with "What do you want?" written on it. He looked a little sheepish, "Can you help me with this?"

I gave an irritated sigh and showed him a sheet of notebook paper. It read, "What do you need help with?"

"Well…Everything." I sighed yet again, and then handed him a note saying, "Give me a moment." I then made a copy of my notes, except with the main details highlighted and with detailed directions to do the factoring in case he had forgotten. Being a quick writer, I had managed to do this task pretty quickly. I then handed the notes to him with another note on top saying, "Only this one time." just as the bell rang.

Curses. I didn't finish my worksheets. Now I have homework. CURSES.

then began packing up, only to hear Yomine say in a very cheerful tone, "I'll show you around the school!" and then her footsteps as she and someone else walked out of the door.

Great. Ditched by the friend. That's great.

"It's just you and me now," Kankuro winked at me, "Why don't you and I-"

I shoved a note in his face, "CORRECTION. I will take you to your class, and then I will go to mine ALONE. I have an AP class, which means that I will be with the 3rd years."

Upon reading this, he grinned, "In that case, I think you'll be thrilled to meet my older sister. Her name is Temari."

"So...lunch room..." Temari commented, her teal eyes scanning the student-packed room. Her voice, though it was quite loud, was almost lost in the chaos that is known as the Konoha High lunch room. The blond girl towered over me by at least half a foot in her uniform with her 3rd year black tie and skirt.

"Saya-chan! Over here!" My purple and red-streaked haired friend waved at me. The red haired boy was beside her, silently observing the room with a serious face. I think his name was Gaara.
"Is that...my brother?" Temari asked. I looked at her, and then at Gaara. I then pointed at him and shrugged.

"Yeah, that's Gaara," she looked over at me, "It may not look like it, but we really are blood related." I nodded, lowering my arm. Someone then attacked me by slinging an arm over my shoulders, "Hey there, sweetheart." I squeaked in surprise.

Temari looked over at my attacker, "Oh, it's just you." Panicked, I shot the older girl a distressed look. She sighed, "Kankuro, get off the poor girl." Kankuro whined, "But Temari..."
"Kankuro. Off. Now."

The arm unwound itself from me, but not before its owner had touched my butt. I squeaked again. Temari shot the boy a look of pure disapproval. He shrugged it off.

And so the other brother decides to show his face too. Great. It was bearable with the quiet one. Now we have this one. Great.

I pointed at the table with my friend and their sibling. The two shrugged and joined me as we crossed the room with our lunches.

As soon as we sat down, introductions went around. Looks like it's just going to be Tenten and Neji, Hinata, and the other people I've already mentioned (Yomine, Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, and myself). I assumed Sakura and Ino sat at a different table (and I was okay with that.) Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba were probably with the Athletic Group/Jocks/Whatever You Want To Call Them. Shikamaru was probably watching the clouds outside with Choji, who was probably eating both of their lunches. Sai was probably in the art room sketching. And Lee was probably doing some sports training with Guy-sensei.

I turned to my friend and asked, "Social?" She grinned and started going on about Social was finally interesting without giving a reason why. I raised an eyebrow and gestured at the boy beside her. When she turned slightly red at the slight movement, I grinned like the Cheshire Cat.

That girl's so cute. Aww, young love.

"Is that a smile I see, Sayaka?" Kankuro asked devilishly, poking at my cheek. As quickly as it came, it vanished. I smacked a note into his face, "STOP."

Tenten grinned, "You heard the lady, Kankuro. You'd better do what she says. Otherwise, she may use you in her next Bio experiment." The non-transfer students minus me burst into laughter. As for me, I put on an evil face and rubbed my hands in the most sinister way possible.

Everyone knows I hate bio experiments more than anything. Especially because Orochimaru-sensei is the one one leading the thing!

Kankuro held his hands up in surrender. His siblings and I joined in the laughter.

These guys are mushrooms. They're fungi-s...Yeah, bad joke. Sorry, sorry.

I turned to my lunch as the conversation resumed around me. An apple, some mashed potatoes, a package of snap peas, a little carton of milk, and a large slice of SPAM stared back at me. I put the SPAM on a paper towel and pushed it to the middle with a note, "Who wants the devil meat-I MEAN SPAM. Who wants the SPAM? I'll trade SPAM for milk or snap peas." While I waited for people to notice and read my note, I started on the potatoes.

Mmm...Potatoes...Gotta love them.

Yomine and Tenten decided to split it. Yomine gave me her peas and Tenten gave me her little carton. "Thanks," I whispered, taking the package and opening up the carton. I sipped from it, the frosty beverage cooling my throat.

"Despite the amount of milk you drink, you never really seem to grow, do you, Sayaka?" Neji commented, his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk stretched across his pale face. I was about to slap a note on his tray when Yomine reached across the table, grabbed his apple, and threw it at him. He caught it, scowling, though I think he was trying to fight a smile, "Hn, so immature."

"Thank you, Yomi," I smiled at her. "No prob, Say ("Sai")," she replied, "I've always wondered what it'd be like to throw an apple at that guy anyway." The redhead beside her chucked at this, obviously amused by her antics.

"I think we're going to like it here at this school," Temari said, a cool smirk on her face.

"Th-that's g-great!" Hinata said, a smile lighting up her face.

Of course, I'm not too sure if they knew what kind of history this school has...But let me just say this, it's pretty bad.

The bell rang, startling the table members. I fumbled to throw my packages of peas and apple and other carton of milk into my bag while everyone split into their respective class-going groups. Me with Temari and everyone else in the other group. I looked over at her in sympathy and said, "Science."

Let's be honest. That was actually one of the best lunches I've had in a while. It was a good thing I didn't skip today.

We exited the lunchroom, only to find a large group gathered around the area near the front door.

"What is going on?" Temari asked, "Some sort of Konoha High student thing?" I just shrugged, a disturbed feeling settling in my gut and a confused expression on my face.

"Oi, Sayaka, just bear with me for a second, 'kay?" came Kankuro's voice. I let out a really large squeak of surprise when he hoisted me up into the air and placed me on his shoulders.

Thank KAMI I wear shorts under this stupid skirt.

"Well, what is it?" Yomi demanded, the rest of her group now surrounding us.

When I saw what the fuss was about, I couldn't believe it. So I just stared at it, letting it all sink in, my hands over my mouth as the universal sign of shock. Everything I heard came to me just as muddled noise like I was in a restaurant with earplugs. I now barely recognized where I was, much less convey what I saw.

What the hell? Who in the right mind would do such a thing?! It's atrocious! It's a crime! It's-

"SAYAKA!" I blinked, my senses now recognizing the world as the world and not some stupid muddled form of it. The little group surrounding me had been calling my name.

I attempted to write a note, but my hands shook too much; so much that my already messy handwriting became huge scribbles everywhere, which was a really rare thing. So, I resorted to real words. "Put me down, Kankuro," I ordered. He did so, surprised by the authority I had injected into my quiet voice. "Thank you."

"What as it?" "Did you see it?" "Why is everyone here?" "Was it fun up on my shoulders-OW! TEMARI!"

I took a deep breath to steady myself. I didn't feel any better now on the ground and blind to the cause of the commotion. Yomine grabbed me by the shoulder and shook me like a carton of orange juice, "TELL US!"

"S-someone d-drew on the wall..." I stammered.

Neji sighed, "I thought I made it so that students can't do that anymore."

Oh yeah, the Hyuuga's Student Council president. He has a lot of power here.

"Well, someone obviously broke more rules than just that one if little Sayaka is quivering like this," Kankuro said, gesturing to me.

I was quivering? What?

One glance at my hands confirmed this. My stupid knees decided that now was a good time to give way and I fell to the stupid floor. It was a good thing my nerves were too preoccupied with making me feel like a scared little girl.

"Saya-Oh my Kami. Sayaka, are you all right?" Tenten asked, crouching down to my level. Kankuro wrapped his arms around me, but I didn't seem to mind it.

"Something bad is going to happen soon," I managed to say between my shivering and chattering teeth. The group just looked at me with an even stranger look. I continued, "They...they are coming for us. They said so."

"Sayaka, speak ENGLISH. Your jibber-jabber makes no sense right now," Yomine said, sounding annoyed, "Now just tell us!"

I pushed Kankuro away, now slowly reverting back to my old self, "A death threat, signed by a gang, "Sound Ninjas". They know our students' names, and according to them, someone in the next week is going to die..." I bit my lip and hesitated. The group gestured for me to continue. I did so cautiously, "...Inuzuka, Kiba...and they also have-"

"Sayakaaaaa!" I heard a panicked howl from none other than the aforementioned boy.
"Here," I called out as loud as I could.

I was then safety-tackled by the boy, which is saying a lot since he does play a lot of sports in which tackling is meant to hurt the other person, "Sayaka...They took him..." I heard sobbing from my shoulder, "THEY TOOK AKAMARU!"

"And how do you know they're serious?" Gaara spoke (finally).

Wow, that is one majestic voice.

"Well, apparently they have the dog," Tenten said, earning a sob from the boy attached to me.

"The note was written in red," I said softly, "and sadly, speaking from experience, that is blood. And I'm pretty sure it's Akamaru's."

(I own nothing but Sayaka. All characters and credit goes to those who deserve it.)