Annabeth in Konoha
Konoha Village was completely abuzz. Everyone was talking about the strange blond girl in an orange t-shirt who had marched through the gate on Friday morning, sent Izumo and Kotetsu straight to the infirmary, beaten Shikamaru twice at shogi and become Sakura's new best friend.
That is, everyone except for Naruto, who had been out on a mission since Thursday. So today, as he touched down at the Konoha gate, he was surprised to find a sulky Shikamaru waiting to welcome him back instead of the Hokage's bodyguards.
"You look annoyed," Naruto teased.
"You'd be annoyed too," grunted Shikamaru, "if some freaky kunoichi turned up from nowhere and turned the village upside down and beat you twice at shogi."
"She beat you?" gasped Naruto.
Shikamaru blushed. He hadn't meant to let that slip.
"Wow, some girl she must be," laughed Naruto. "Where is she from?"
"Nobody knows," said Shikamaru. "She's blond, wears an orange t-shirt and a bead necklace and has scary grey eyes which look like a doujutsu."
"Sounds weird," remarked Naruto.
"How troublesome," agreed Shikamaru.
After reporting to an obviously flustered Granny Tsunade, Naruto joined the Konoha boys who were hanging out at Ichiraku's Ramen. None of them were in good spirits. Chouji was trying his best to diet. Neji was brooding. Rock Lee was almost in tears. Kiba seemed appalled at having met a kunoichi who was even ruder than he was. Shikamaru didn't seem to want to eat at all. Only Sai seemed to be mildly amused, and was discussing the matter with Teuchi.
"She isn't from a hidden village," supplied Sai. "In fact, she doesn't seem to be a ninja at all. She has one bronze knife which is stronger than any kunai I've ever seen, and she's surprisingly good at taijutsu."
"She doesn't like ramen," sighed Teuchi.
"She's smarter than Shikamaru," added Sai.
"Damn you," groaned Shikamaru, and walked out of the shop.
Teuchi grinned. "Don't tell anyone I told you this," he said softly, "but I'm pretty sure he likes her."
Naruto just gaped in gleeful surprise.
While the boys wallowed in misery and ramen, the girls were having a great time at the dango shop. They had invited Shizune and Anko along, and the new blonde girl was their guest of honour.
Everybody liked Annabeth. Ino thought she was a bit of a tomboy, but she admired the girl's good looks. Hinata looked up to her immensely and wished she could be as self-confident. Tenten enjoyed sparring with her and was now examining the bronze knife. And of course Sakura had never before met anyone she could relate so closely to. Annabeth was just like her-smart, had annoying parents, had loved one boy who had betrayed her and now loved someone whom she had first thought annoying. Annabeth had had it a lot tougher than Sakura-she had run away from home when she was seven and her first love, Luke, was dead. Sakura thanked her stars that Sasuke was still alive somewhere, but ever since she had met Annabeth, she had thought a lot more about Naruto, and even wondered about whether Naruto would be as good a boyfriend for her as Percy was for Annabeth.
The only thing Sakura worried about was how eager Annabeth seemed to leave. Of course, Sakura understood how much she must long to be in her own world with Percy again, but she couldn't help hoping that Annabeth would stay. Which was why she kept organizing fun activities for Annabeth, in the hope that she might learn to love Konoha as her home. Now, as she watched her new friend arguing merrily with Anko, she wondered whether Annabeth might actually decide to stay behind.