First day of school! Will I fit in?
As the sun rose, a girl with black hair that reached her waist and with her bangs parted down the middle was sitting under the shine of the morning light. She was sitting in a thinking position, her legs were crossed and her hands were folded in the chakra position. Her eyes were closed as the soft morning breeze lifted her hair behind her head, twisting it in small swirls as it blew to the right. Then there was a sound, a popping sound perhaps, and a man stood behind her. "Lailah… I need to talk to you." He said with a bit of concern laced in his tone. The girl, Lailah, looked at him with one black colored eye open and sighed; He had spiky light grey hair, his headband covering one eye, a mask that covered his nose down to his neck, a chunin vest, a long sleeved black shirt under, black pants reaching his ninja shoes and fingerless gloves. "Yes Kakashi-neesama? What is it?" She asked with a slight hint of curiosity in her tone. Kakashi closed his eyes seriously. "Listen…Lailah-chan. You need to enroll into the academy. You refused before but…There's no reason not to go." He said with his eyes looking sharply at her. Lailah sighed in annoyance as she said "I don't need to go to that baby school… I know enough already." She had a slight bored tone in her voice as she spoke. Kakashi looked over at her and only shook his head. "Come on… You're just being stubborn! You always refused to go to the academy and I think it's about time you do. You may think you have what it takes to be a real ninja but you don't. There's still a lot you need to know. I do not wish to say it but…You're not strong enough yet…" He looked sternly at her. Lailah only glared back at him. "Kakashi-neesama… Don't ever… Say I'm not strong…" Her glaring eyes slowly started to tear up and she turned her head quickly. Kakashi lowered his glare then looked down with a sigh. He extended one hand behind the back of his head "You may think you're strong…" He said in a whisper he thought only he could hear, but Lailah over-heard him without a word. There was a long period of tense silence between the two. Finally Kakashi spoke "If, by chance, you decide to change your mind… You know where to find me." With that said and with a poof, he disappeared. Lailah turned with a scowl to face the village in front of her. She remained silent then looked down, ashamed. "Kakashi-neesama's right…" She sighed. "I still have a lot to learn…" She glared at the floor with a smile. "Damn you Kakashi-neesama… You always get to me…"
The next early morning was a tiresome one for Lailah. She had a scowl on her face and bags under her eyes as she headed toward the forest. Her mind was on the school, her classmates, and the team she might be paired with. 'I hate you so much right now Kakashi…' She thought with tired anger. As she reached the forest Kakashi was sitting there, as usual, leaning against a tree and reading his icha-icha paradise book. Lailah sighed and shook her head with a sweatdrop appearing on the side of her head. She tried to sneak over but was tricked by a fallen leaf. With a crunch, a yell of "damnit!" and a bunch of shifting. Lailah was found out. Kakashi peered toward her. "I see you changed your mind…" He said cooly, as only he can do. Lailah crossed her arms and pouted "shut up Kakashi-neesama." She glared. Kakashi only chuckled, knowing he had her. "So… How do I enroll into the academy anyway? I think it had started a while ago didn't it?" She asked with curiosity. Kakashi let out an amused chuckle "Yes but… Don't worry you already know the basics." Lailah let out a relieved sigh and nodded. "Ok that sounds great." She grinned, her hands behind her back. Kakashi looked a bit shocked, she seemed a little…excited about going to school. "Well I'll escort you to the academy, there's someone I need to have a word with while were there." She nodded with a bright smile and started to walk, her hands behind her back. Kakashi smile down at the young girl. 'She seems to be taking this very well…' he thought happily.
They finally reached the school after half an hour. They were still early, hardly anyone had arrived yet. Lailah raised an eyebrow and blinked a couple of times. "Wow…not very active is it?" she grinned. Kakashi shook his head and sweatdropped but chuckled as they headed to the academy. He showed her which class she would be staying in. Lailah nodded and walked in then sat on a random bench near the window. She peered out of the clear glass, the sunlight shining through. "So…this is my school…" she smiled. "Can't wait…"
It was an hour before everyone joined the class. As the students walked in they looked at Lailah and blinked, noticing everyone wore a headband, she was the only one who didn't. They started to talk amongst themselves, taking side glances at her, wondering why she didn't have a headband, maybe she was a special case. That's what they might think. Not a moment later there were a few girly screams as someone's voice sounded beside her. "You're in my seat…" said a cold and distant voice. Lailah looked at him then blinked. He had black hair and black eyes. He wore a blue shirt and white shorts. Lailah only glared then stood up, he sat down in "his" seat when Lailah had an idea. She sat down beside him, just to make him mad. And so he was. She smirked then another voice sounded beside her. "Hey! I wanted to sit next to Sasuke!" 'Gawd can't I get a break today…' She thought with a sigh. She looked over and saw a girl with pink hair and green eyes. The girl wore a red dress like outfit, it had a white circle at the near bottom of the front, with black shorts under; the dress had long slits on the sides, reaching 4 inches below her waist, which could probably be the reason for the shorts. Lailah gaped at her, her right eye twitching slightly. 'P-p-p-pink hair?!' she thought and started to laugh loudly, people stared at her and the girl blinked. "What's so funny?!" She yelled. Lailah looked up at her and slowly stopped laughing. "You…you have…you have PINK hair!" She said then broke out laughing again, pointing at the girl. She blushed and glared daggers at Lailah. Sasuke didn't laugh, his eyes held amusement as he looked over at the two girls. "Hey don't make fun of Sakura-chan!" yelled yet another voice, this one sounded annoyed and…annoying. Lailah looked over at the source of the voice and blinked, her laughter starting to slow down again. The person was a boy; he had spiky blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a strange orange colored jumpsuit and he had strange markings on his face, almost like whiskers, three whiskers on his left and right cheeks. He also wore, like all ninja should, blue sandal like shoes. Lailah stood up and stood in front of the boy, her arms crossed and a smirk on her face. "Heh whatcha gonna do about it?" The boy blinked then stepped back. "Uhhh…" was all he could say, by that time Sakura had inched her way past Lailah and sat next to Sasuke. Lailah blinked then looked at Sakura with a bored expression, "Ya know…Ya coulda just said please…" She sighed then moved to the seat behind them. Naruto sat next to Sakura, glaring at Sasuke. As Lailah sat she had her chin propped up by her hands. She looked a bit sad… and lonely too. 'I'll never make any friends if I act like this…' Lailah closed her eyes and laid her head on the desk, falling asleep instantly.
It was the teacher, Iruka-sensei who woke her up. Iruka had brown hair that was tied back into a ponytail. He had a long scar running across his face, from eye to eye. He had black eyes, wore ninja sandals and a green chunin vest that had a black long sleeved shirt under and black pants. His method of waking her up was to lightly shove her shoulder enough to wake her up. That was one big mistake. Immediately she jumped up in her seat and stood up straight. "Ah what happened?!" she yelled. The whole classroom buzzed with laughter as she did so, making her blush deeply in embarrassment. After that embarrassing show she sat back down, her vision on her hands. Iruka sighed. "Lailah you missed most of the lesson today." Lailah looked up at him with nothing but shame playing on her face. "I-I'm sorry Iruka-sensei…" She sighed then looked back at her hands. Iruka looked at her for a second then continued on with the lesson. Lailah mentally slapped herself and held a tear back from falling. 'I'm so stupid…' She thought then looked back at Iruka as he spoke.
It was almost the end of the lesson when Iruka gave an announcement. He stood in front of the class, a piece of paper in his hands behind his back. "Now the next step is the assignment of official duties to you all on behalf of our village." He smiled then continued "We will begin by dividing you into three-man cells…" Lailah blinked then looked up from her desk with interest. "Each of which will be mentored by a Jounin, a more senior ninja who will guide and coach you as you become familiar with various assignments." Lailah looked down at Sasuke and saw he looked annoyed, Sakura looked determined about something while the blonde looked a bit bored and thoughtful. "I made the selections so that each cell's abilities would be approximately equal." said Iruka. 'Wait…I just joined here…so that means I won't be in a team…' Lailah thought worriedly. Iruka continued "But because we have a late comer, one cell will have 4 people." Lailah sighed with relief then laid her head on the table, waiting for him to announce the squads.
So far Iruka had announced 6 cells, none of them Lailah was in yet. "Next cell number seven. Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto…" began Iruka. Naruto stood up and grinned "yes!" He yelled. Sakura on the other hand looked depressed "rats…" Lailah heard her say under her breath. "Uchiha Sasuke…" Iruka paused for a second to write something down. Sasuke continued to look bored, Sakura jumped up and yelled "Oh yea!" She grinned while Naruto looked depressed, his head hanging. Naruto then stood up and pointed at Sasuke, enraged. "Master Iruka!!" Iruka stopped writing and looked up at Naruto. Naruto continued "What are you thinking of? Saddling a most excellent shinobi like myself with that loser?!" Naruto yelled as he pointed at Sasuke. Lailah giggled a bit then looked down at Sakura who was glaring daggers at him and Sasuke who looked like he could care less. Iruka let out a deep frustrated sigh and answered "of the twenty-eight of you, not including Lailah, you would be the bottom of the class. The idea is to balance your different strengths…that's why you ended up together." Naruto glare at Sasuke while Iruka sighed. "Oh yes." He said just realizing what he had written down. He looked at the paper he had read from and continued. "And last to join cell 7 is Lailah." He said. Lailah blinked then smiled, until she saw Sakura's glare. Both Naruto and Sakura turned to look at her. Lailah lowered her head, feeling embarrassed. 'Great…all the attention on me…' She thought sarcastically. Sakura glared with determination and anger. Naruto didn't glare but he didn't look too thrilled either. Lailah looked down at her lap, 'Someone help me…' she thought.
The class was dismissed and Lailah sighed as she walked out of the class. She had a depressed look on her face. She held her head up and blinked, noticing a single swing. "…" She smiled slightly and walked over, sitting on the swing. 'Why did it have to start off this way…?' She thought. A tear rolled down her cheek as she swung, back and forth…back and forth…
When the afternoon came Lailah walked inside the classroom and sat at the far corner. As the other three arrived Lailah looked down at her hands. Naruto on the other hand peered out of the door angrily. Sakura was leaning on a desk and Sasuke, as always, was sitting at the desk with his hands in front of his face. "Cut it out Naruto!" Yelled Sakura from the desk she was leaning on. Naruto looked back at her "Why are we the only cell whose teacher hasn't shown up yet?!" He said angrily. Lailah looked at Naruto and blinked. He turned and crossed his arms, his eyes closed. "All the other teams have already gone off with their teachers. Even master Iruka has gone!" Lailah watched the three from her desk with curiosity. "Hey what are you up to Naruto?!" yelled Sakura as she walked over to Naruto, who was standing on top of a chair grinning. He wedged a chalk board eraser into the crack he made in the middle of the door and the wall then jumped off. "It's what he gets for making us wait!!" He grinned. "Grow up!" Sakura said. Lailah smirked 'nice plan…' she thought. "I want no part of it." said an angry Sakura. Sasuke hmped then spoke "No way could a superior shinobi be caught by such a simple booby trap…" A gloved hand reached in the crack of the door as he said that. And to Lailah's surprise Kakashi walked in, the chalk board eraser falling atop his head. Naruto pointed and laughed "HA HA HA HA! Gotcha!" Sakura looked nervous and said "I'm sorry sensei…I tried to stop him but Naruto…" Lailah walked closer a little more and smiled. Kakashi began a thoughtful pose "Hmm…how shall I put this…" he began then glared "I hate you!" Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke looked glum. "Hey Neesama!" She smiled then walked over. "Ah Lailah-chan there you are." He looked happily at her while the others gaped. "Nice to see you're in a cheerful mood for once…" he said calmly. Lailah nodded and they headed to the roof, the others still gaping.