DISCLAIMER

I do not own or have any affiliation with any of the characters, geography, plot basis, or other things related with Naruto. Those things all belongs to Kishimoto and Naruto's animation companies. I merely own the sub-plot that is the basis of this fanfic and my origanil characters. The only origanil characters I don't own are Satai (©Jezi), Kai (©Kai), and Roku whose is split ©between Kai and I. Thank you.

CHAPTER 1

"Sorry Hun, but we haven't even gone our first date ya know…" Hotaru said teasingly as she removed her cat Miyo's paws from her breast and plopped the full grown black tomcat on the wooden floor of her room.
Hotaru rose from the edge of her bed, revealing her height to be slightly taller than average for a girl of her age, which was 14 ½ for you information. She gently plucked a few of the more noticeable long black hair from her gray tube top before pulling on her usual short-sleeved fishnet undershirt and slightly baggy black hoodie, of a thin material because of the temperature Kohana could reach.
With a yawn, a sign of the fact she had only recently awoken, she pulled her slightly longer than shoulder length black hair up with a pair of bamboo chopsticks that had been a gift from her mom after graduating from the academy.
Hotaru looked into the black framed mirror that hung, contrastingly, on her sky blue walls. She was admittedly a very plain girl, but Hotaru had always believed this would come in handy for being able to blend better during under cover missions when she reached a higher rank. Her hair was dark, almost black but not quite, and straight. As well as it tended to be a hassle in the early hours of the morning before brushing it and showering. Her eyes were gray, a very neutral color that didn't stick into the mind really. Her skin, pale from many hours spent indoors instead of outside, actually complimented the gray of her eyes in nothing else. And then there was Hotaru's body… While not built to match any guy's fantasy, Hotaru still thought she was built fairly nicely. She was average height and slender, with toned legs and an average breast size to match her average hips.
She stuck her tongue out at the mirror image and ruffled her slightly longer than chin length bangs before snatching up her shoes and heading out of her room and into the chaos downstairs.
The chaos was to be expected, seeing as Hotaru had three younger siblings (the fraternal twins, Haru and Haruki, and the toddler, Hayato) and an older brother named Hachirou. Hachirou and Hotaru were the first ninjas in her family, her parents owned a clothing store in town near the Ichiraku Ramen Bar and her siblings were still much too young.
Hachirou, now that was a topic Hotaru could rant on for hours. Hachirou was who Hotaru had always considered her worst enemy and was the main reason she'd become a ninja, to best the pompous ass. Hotaru really didn't want to be a ninja, she'd wanted to be a scroll keeper, but after hearing Hachirou say no girl could be a good ninja she had to become one just to prove him wrong.
And in the opinion of Hotaru and her sensei, so far she was doing a pretty good job. Her sensei was Kai Edogawa, a female illusion specialist originally from Getsugakure in the Land of the Moon who was Jounin rank. One of teammates was Satai Harauchi, a girl her age with brown hair and eyes who wore wire-framed glasses and whose goal was to be Lady Hokage Tsunade apprentice. Her other teammate was Roku Nakano, a perverted tight-ass male who tended to lean towards electrically based jutsus and work with his sword.
Yes, at the time life was mostly good for the kunoichi. At least, that's what she decided in her mind as she casually strolled out of the house without encountering any family members and headed towards the training grounds.

Three chew outs from Kai-sensei and an unknown amount of all out team brawls later training was over. Satai left to go hang around Tsunade's office and fetch the occasional scratch card while Roku went to go peek into the ladies' side of the hot springs. This left Kai and Hotaru.
" Hey Hotaru, how 'bout I treat you to lunch for helping me pull Satai off of Roku after he groped her?" The tall, spiky haired illusionist offered as she gently twirled a kunai in her hand. Hotaru perked up, grinning at the thought of a free meal.
"Hell yes!" she declared happily and punched the air, hopping up from the spot under a shady tree where she had stationed herself and had been watching the sky. Kai grinned at the dark haired girl's enthusiasm.
"Alright, alright chill out or I won't take you anywhere." Kai warned as she put her kunai where it belonged. Hotaru almost instantly calmed. "Good, now let's go get some barbeque." Kai stated and motioned for Hotaru to follow as she headed towards said food place. Hotaru obediently followed after her sensei like a happy puppy, trying to seem casual as she glanced around at the people around her.
A few minutes later they arrived, only to see Asuma Sarutobi treating his team to food as well. Kai passed Asuma, giving a casual wave as she passed, but Hotaru paused and bowed before hurrying after her own sensei. Admittedly, Hotaru found Team 10, well, amazing. The three teammates were nothing alike, yet found something similar enough between them not to brawl during training like her team. Then again, maybe their extraordinary team work had something to do with the fact that their parents all worked together in a team. But still, comparing Team 9, her team, and Team 10 was like comparing a chipmunk to a Doberman pinscher.
Hotaru pushed the thoughts of her terrible team out of her mind and paid attention to Kai-sensei, only to realize that they were being invited to sit with Asuma and his team and she'd jut been asked what she thought. She quickly glanced at the people around her and tried to seem laid back as she answered.
" Sure, sounds fine to me." she said and sat next to Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji as Kai slid into the booth next to Asuma. The two senseis began to talk about various things, so Hotaru looked to her fellow genin for conversation.
"Hey." she greeted the three before her with a small nod.
"Hi I'm Ino, you were in Nanoa Kaoraku's class during academy right?" the blonde haired girl asked in a friendly tone. Hotaru nodded, recognizing Ino as one of the many girls who were crushing on Sasuke Uchiha.
"Yeah, I was." she agreed.
"That explains why I don't remember you from class." the large boy, Chouji, said between handfuls of chips.
The third member, Shikamaru Nara, was lazily gazing up and outside of the window so she could only see the back of his head. Shikamaru was well known for his shadow jutsu and had dark eyes and brown hair that was always up in a spiky ponytail. He was slightly taller than her and had a wiry build. Shikamaru was not only well known for his jutsu, but also known for his lazy-ness and cloud watching tendencies.
Hotaru was about to say something to Shikamaru in an attempt to get his attention, but before she could the food was delivered. Ah well, there were other times to try and get to know the cloud watcher.

--END CHAPTER ONE