It was raining that day. The drops splattered against the dirt road turning it to mud as Oka and I came upon a village. The mist rose around the woodland and houses as we passed through the gates without interference .I crept quietly behind Oka, my tiny palms grasping the hem of her skirts as she led the both of us through the streets of the town. Both of us were soaked and cold and tired but we had finally found somewhere. That didn't mean I wanted to be here. I just wanted to go home. This wasn't home. I had lost all of that in one single night; everything except Oka.
It was raining.
Again.
There was a little bit of fog that surrounded my feet as a group of fangirls dashed past, bumping into both of us as they entered the Academy.
"How about you watch where you are going, Dipshits!" Mai yelled at the pack, whose pace increased as we glared after them. We continued in behind the last of the fan club just as class was called into session. I occupied my normal seat in the back; Mai sat next to me, twiddling with a senbon between her fingers, the metal glinting in the early sunlight.
Leaning back, I watched the chaos that was my class. Most were chattering incoherently; Akamaru barked loudly over the talk and jumped into Kiba's lap, knocking him and his seat over with a crash. Shikamaru was attempting, and apparently succeeding, in catching an early morning nap on his desk, his light snores reaching my ears. Naruto was on the desk, just staring Sasuke down as all of the girls of our class, including Sakura and Ino, had begun punching and screaming even louder to decide who would take the seat next to Sasuke. Hiro sat on Sasuke's other side, a tickmark growing swiftly on his head. I rolled my eyes and lazily drifted my gaze back across the room.
"Pathetic excuse for kunoichi," Mai stated, disgusted with the females of our class and at the same time, bored out of her mind, now carving something into the desk with her senbon.
"Imagine living next door to one of the presidents of the club," I rolled my eyes, "I hear her all the time just ogling over her precious Sasuke. It's sickening."
Everything continued to be in its usual anarchy as we awaited the arrival Iruka, who was probably still going crazy over something insignificant that he shouldn't even need to be worried over.
All of a sudden, the room was filled with gasps.
I searched for the cause and when I finally found it, my chair fall back onto all of the four legs as I tried to hold my sides together. Mai joined my laughter and we began to roll around on the ground, unable to hold back our amusement at the Naruto-Sasuke lip lock before us. I thought it was a hilarious way to start off class until Iruka came in and ruined the fun.
"Ok! Ok! Settle down everyone! It's time to start class!" Iruka shouted above the clatter. It took a few minutes for the class to settle and when they finally did, there was still a great amount of tension in the air.
Iruka began his lesson, the chalk scratching and tapping quickly against the board at the front as my eyelids grew heavy. My eyes closed but only what seemed like seconds later a hard bit of chalk collided with my head. Looking up from resting on my forearms, I glared at a scowling Iruka. When he turned back around, my eyes closed again.
As I felt the minutes trickle by slowly, I was just a bit coherent of the lesson he was teaching: teamwork.
Again.
When would he realize that some people will never get along?
Abruptly, Iruka's angered voice rose again at my sleeping. His face was distorted in annoyance at my lack of care. Except, I, shocking, I know, didn't care. His gaze then turned to my sleeping companion who was blinking awake.
"What?" I hissed, my voice muffled from not lifting my head off my arms.
"Everyone is excused, except you Kyoko; I want to see you after class," Iruka added. Students began to pile books into bags as they vacated the room. "Now Kyoko."
I sighed before pushing myself up and pushing past the exiting students. A shoulder shoved past me painfully, forcing me into a desk. I sneered at the back of the rude shinobi, who just continued on, ignoring me and shoving his hands deeper in his pockets.
I finally made it to Iruka's desk and sat reluctantly in the chair he offered. "You have been set up for private training Kyoko, starting this evening," Iruka stated, his taupe gaze boring into me.
"And if I don't show up?" I prodded, stretching my arms out drowsily.
"Then you don't get your team."
I didn't respond verbally to Iruka, instead giving him a quick aggravated glare before sauntering between the desks to a still sleeping Mai. She stretched groggily as we exited the classroom, out into the musky post-rain environment.
Mai and I were hanging out in the park while we talked over my dilemma.
"What do you take of this training?" I asked her; just staring out at the few shinobi that were determined enough to train in the bleary mid - afternoon sun. She pondered as a senbon twisted between her fingers.
"Just go tonight and see what it's all about. It can't be that dreadful," she stated, although I'm not sure I completely believed her. "Anyways, I'll catch up with you after. I was supposed to be home half an hour ago so I had better get started on that," Mai said, setting the senbon back into her mousy locks. She disappeared around the corner quickly and I ran towards my own house, travelling through the main part of town to get to the calm outskirts. The rush of people returning home from work had not completely calmed yet so there was a limited amount of space I could weave though. I had managed to make it almost the entire way home when I collided with another body.
"Hey, how about you watch out where you're going!" I shouted from the ground, rubbing my head. I looked up, snarling at the reason for my fall. He stared down at me, one eyebrow raised and his hands secluded in his pockets.
"You should be more careful," he stated coldly as if it had been completely my fault.
"Why don't you walk with your eyes open from now on, Uchiha?" As I stood up, I gave the Uchiha a death glare, narrowing my eyes dangerously. His glare only darkened, his onyx eyes intent on me.
"You should really control your temper, Tanaka," he warned, his dark eyes half hidden by his navy black locks.
"My temper? Maybe you should stop being such a prick and then we wouldn't have to worry about my temper," I hissed, spinning about to return on my way.
"What fucking ray of sunshine you are," The Uchiha spat at me.
"What, you don't enjoy my company?" I growled.
"You're annoying," he stated coldly.
"Thanks for the memo." Turning, I flipped him off before pursuing my goal of reaching home before having to leave for training.
When I shut my front door behind me, Oka's voice echoed from the kitchen,
"Kyoko? Is that you? Where have you been?"
"Yeah, it's just me, Oka. I was just at the park with Mai." Oka stepped into the foyer wearing a cream apron over her navy blue dress, her dark hair hiding tired green eyes.
"Iruka called," Oka informed me, a hint of scold behind her voice, "He said that you have been falling asleep in class again. He also mentioned that you are going to have training every night from now on."
"Yeah, that would be correct." I skipped up steps, rushing from Oka's piercing gaze.
"Make sure you leave in no more than ten minutes!" Her voice echoed off the wooden walls as I opened the rice paper door that revealed my plain room. Plopping down on the bed, I stared at the ceiling of my room as I clicked the power button on my radio. Screaming guitars and hard drum beats blocked out the rest of the world. I finally glanced at my clock, noting that I was already late.
I sighed but got up and snatched up extra kunai in case of any target practice. Throwing myself out the frame of the window, I landed lightly on the ground, gravity forcing me low to the ground with a light thud.
I sprinted to the Training Fields where I found Iruka waiting for me, already peeved. Iruka was waiting at the edge of the fields, his frown giving away the irritation of my lateness. But when I appeared, he gave me a slight grin which I refused to return. I greeted him with a scowl, crossing my arms as a signal of my aggravation of being forced here. The sun was now giving off its last rays before it disappeared as we entered the thick woodland. The trees were a solid wall about Konoha, their strong wood trunks making a sturdy border about the town. The trees receded to create a clearing within the forest, making one of the training fields for shinobi. Most of the other fields were already cleared as the night also brought with it the chilled temperatures that not many shinobi would put up with for just regular training. Across the clearing, a boy was leaning against one of the trees, also perturbed by my tardiness.