The Fate of Our Kind
Chapter One: The clones and Naruki's loyalty
Naruki yawned and pulled her pillow even more onto her head. She had lived in Konoha most of her life(since she was two actually), been Naruto's best, and for a while only, friend for just about that long, and STILL she hated it when he woke her up screaming about something stupid. But this time was different. This time what he was screaming was….. "Wake up, Naru; it's time for the graduation exam!!"
Naruki woke up with that. She got dressed, grabbed her black headband which she always wore and ran down the stairs of her house to where Naruto, the king of all ramen and tricks, was waiting for her. She smiled, "Well, let's go then, noodle head, or we might miss the exam!" He just shook his head, and the two ran off to the academy.
The last two times both had failed, Naruto did on accident, Naruki did on purpose. She believed in one thing when it came to friends: You never abandon them. Despite Naruki's talent with ninjutsu, genjutsu, and even taijutsu, it was easy for her to fail. Pretend to not know; pretend to not be able to do it. That's what she did. When Naruto graduates, so will she, was what Naruki always thought, but……
They ran in, Naruki in first and Naruto in second. He hung his head in play-shame as she smiled, "I win, Naruto!"
Sasuke watched them both from his seat near the front of the room, a rare smile on his face. He'd grown up with the two, as rival to Naruto and a close friend to Naruki, and so was use to their craziness. He saw them, the way they were hardly ever apart and decided to tease their close friendship," So tell me, how's being a couple going for you?"
That was the wrong thing to say, especially with Naruki on her friendship with Naruto, so she, red in the face, stomped over to him. Sasuke knew what was next and so he ducked as she started to hit him continously, appearing hard, but in real life actually very soft. He was her friend after all.
He went along with it, yelling, "Ow, stop it, Naruki, stop it! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
The other girls in the classroom, the fan girls actually, came over and started yelling at her, calling her a he-she and she-man and telling her to stop it. She stopped and glared at all of them only to yell, "Oh shut up and go kiss your secret pictures of Sasuke like the obsesee's you are, you lovesick chick-a-dees! If I ever become like you I can only hope that God will kill me then."
The girls squeaked in terror than ran away and Sasuke chuckled to himself, enjoying the fact that naruki, as talented and sweet to Naruto as she was, could be so unbelievably hard-ass, as she and Naruto both sat down next to him, like nothing happened. Their teacher Iruka came in and cleared his throat to try and stop all the chaos. It worked. Everyone sat down and listened as he explained this year's exam, "Okay, this year we decided to make it a bit hard since you are all soooooo smart. This time around we will still do the clone jutsu with one variation: you will be teamed up in twos and you two will have to do two things. First, you will have to make at least two successful clones and secondly, you will also make one of the clones transform into your partner in casting."
Most
of the students groaned, and Naruto was the loudest of all. He ducked
his head down as Iruka called the first team, "Oh man, oh man, oh
man, I am so going to fail!!"
Naruki looked at him and put a
hand on his shoulder. This happened every year, the exam would come,
naruto would be so happy, and then he finds out about the clone jutsu
and gets down. It made her feel so sad sometimes, "Come on, naruto,
it isn't that bad. Maybe Iruka-sensei will go easy on you."
"Has
he ever?" Sasuke interrupted.
She glared at him and he backed
off. She looked back at Naruto and he looked up, "You're right.
Maybe I'll get teamed up with you, Naru, you're the best there is
here."
"Well, not the best," she said, embarrassed.
But
naruto wasn't teamed with her because it was then that Iruka said
the next pair, 'Okay now, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruki Yorutsuki, you two
are up."
They looked up at each other, and then Sasuke got out
of his seat and held a hand for her, though whether out of mock
politeness or real the fan girls would never know, "Shall we?"
She
got up and he put his arm around her, mostly to annoy the other girls
to no end, and they left the room together, both enjoying the
knowledge of annoying the others.
"Sasuke?"
They were in the hallway to the exam room and he'd still not let go
of her, but that wasn't a problem for either of them. As it stood
both had crushes on the other though neither would admit it, Naruki
because she didn't want to seem like the other kuniochi, all
lovesick and giggly, Sasuke because he didn't want to lose her
friendship, the last person left in the entire world that he
trusted.
He looked at her, his heart beating a bit faster at both
being so closer to her and at her saying his name, something she did
a lot really, but when they were alone, it always felt even nicer,
"Yeah Naruki?"
"I'm sorry about earlier," she said, not
looking him in the eye, "I hope I didn't hurt you."
"It's
okay," he said smiling kindly at her, "I know very well I
shouldn't have called you and Naruto a couple. You had a right."
No
I didn't, she thought to herself, hitting you like that, I
shouldn't have. I want to just tell you the reason that so angered
me really, but……I can't, can I?
Sasuke looked at her,
confused by how upset over such a little thing she seemed. Maybe she
likes you, said a voice in his head. There is no way that is true, he
replied. Why? Is it so unbelievable that your female best friend
could like you like that? The voice asked. Yes. Naruki likes Naruto,
not me. And besides, she's a talented kuniochi, there are plenty of
other guys who'd love to have her for their very own, he responded.
Don't be so sure.
Naruki now was looking at him, seeing how
concentrated in his own thoughts. She smiled, thinking how cute he
looked when he was focusing, or anything, and then looked forward to
see that the door to the exam room was only a little ways away. She
tried to pull him out of his thoughts, "Hey Sa-su-ke, we're
almost to the room, come on."
She got out of his grip, took him
by the hand and dragged him into the room, his face extremely red by
now.
"Okay let's see," Iruka said once they had both gotten
into the room, "Sasuke and Naruki, our two best I see"
"Best?"
Mizuki said with a wicked smile, "Sasuke maybe, but don't you
think maybe this might be too hard for Naruki. I mean, she IS Naruto
Uzumakis best friend."
Sasuke shook his head, not daring to look
at Naruki as her face got redder and redder in anger as Mizuki went
on, "Being his best friend, I highly doubt she could do something
as complicated as this and putting her with a genius like Sasuke
isn't—"
"Watch this, baka teach!"
She did the hand
signs quickly and successfully, completing four clones, two of which
were Sasuke. He smiled then did the same thing, two of himself and
two of Naruki. Mizuki smiled and Iruka said it, "You both
pass."
Naruki went pale and Sasuke shook his head, "This can't
be good."
They returned to the classroom and she couldn't even
look Naruto in the eye. He got the idea and smiled, "Its okay,
Naruki, it was about time that your gifts were allowed to show, you
couldn't hide your talents for my sake for long."
She sideways
glanced at him and smiled weakly, "Thanks Naruto."