ARGH. FF is being SO MEAN TO ME today. I was trying to upload my flashdrive documents but it WOULDN'T LOAD so I had to copy/paste this chapter. (sigh) So anyway...
THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS EVERYONE! I'm happy with the number, and I hope I can reach 100 as easily as the first story! As a sidenote, I'm pretty sure that I won't be able to get any Sneak Peeks for this story at least until...next chapter. Maybe. Sorry about that...
I can't believe I didn't notice that my summary said "Two and 12 years" O.O Gawd. I really have to start paying attention more...Stupid FF...taking away my slash sign...
My brain hurts too much to remember if I have anything else to say so...enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Marieke had informed the girls that their time limit was three days which ended at 6:00 PM. Therefore, they were to leave that night. That meant Midori had a lot of work to do…
While Midori had Nami's room to herself so she would be able to work in peace (she had grown tired of Kyoko and Nami's chatter to "let me do this" and "don't forget that"), the others were lounging in the living room catching up on the years they've missed.
"Shouldn't you already know what's happened, though?" Shikamaru questioned.
"Not really," Kyoko said. "It's kind of complicated, but two and a half years was skipped so we don't know…"
The three shinobi exchanged confused glances, but said nothing about it.
"What is it in this universe that allows you to know what happens in ours?" Marieke asked.
"Well…" Kyoko realized that if they found out about Naruto being a manga series, the plotline might be disrupted. After all, they hadn't even known of Marieke before they came to the Narutoverse several years ago. "We just know." She shrugged.
Nam mentally slapped her forehead.
Obviously that answer didn't suffice, but Marieke wasn't about to say anything…yet. Instead she said, "How long will it take for Midori to finish your equipment?"
"I'm thinking three hours at most," Nami answered.
"Three hours?"
"She's a perfectionist when she wants to be," Nami shrugged. "If it isn't good enough to her, she'll redo it. I bet she's changing everything right now."
Inside Nami's room, Midori sneezed. "Oh geez…NOW I HAVE TO START OVER!"
The group flinched in unison.
Several hours later, the sun had started to go down, radiating a mixture of red and orange into Nami's room where Midori was writing on the back of the last index card. A can of Sprite sat next to her on the floor, and her back was to Nami's bed. Wads of crumpled paper and muddled sketches were scattered around her. It was apparent she had changed her mind quite a few times…
"No, no, no…" Midori muttered, erasing the words she recently wrote. "That won't work…"
"Still working?"
Midori glanced towards the doorway to see Neji leaning against the doorway, looking amused.
"Yes. Yes I am," she answered.
"Why does it take you so long to draw three images? Even the writing shouldn't take this long."
Midori raised an eyebrow. "I don't suppose you know how to draw, Hyuuga Neji."
Neji shook his head.
"I didn't think so." She smiled. "I'm almost done though. You guys won't have to wait much longer."
"Good to hear," Neji said.
Silence fell between them, and Midori continued scratching the pencil tip against the paper. Unbeknownst to each other, they both had something on their minds, and they weren't too far from the same subject. What had happened two and a half years ago wasn't easily forgotten. Midori wanted to ask about it, but she thought it would be too awkward. Neji couldn't find the right words, and after two and a half years, he wasn't sure if things were the same.
"Midori—"
"I'm—" Midori closed her mouth in embarrassment. "Oh, sorry. Did you want to say something?"
"Er, maybe later," Neji answered uncouthly. "You were about to say something."
"Yeah," Midori nodded, holding up the three cards as if she were about to perform the old magic card trick. "I'm done."
The time was fifteen minutes to six. They had plenty of time to spare. Midori had requested for Nami and Kyoko to wait until they came to Konoha to study their cards, but their eyes were already darting across their small cards in a mesmerizing way.
"All right, girls," Marieke said, gaining the threesome's attention. "Perform the jutsu."
Nodding simultaneously, they put their hands together. Now that they knew what they were doing, the girls were determined to do this gracefully, especially with people watching. The names of the hand seals flashed through their minds as they performed them. Dog. Tiger. Serpent.
Together, they tapped their index and middle fingers to the thick paper and instantly they emitted a burst of white light.
The feeling was extraordinary. Last time, the girls had been unconscious when the jutsu was conducted accidentally. This time, they were conscious of everything going on around them.
It had the same feeling of falling through the sky; free and exhilarated. However, they felt somewhat exposed for several seconds whence the light surrounding them seemed to burn away their clothes. Soon after, however, comfortable covering had stretched over their bodies as if by magic. The last accessory pulling itself onto each of their foreheads was the familiar hitai-ate.
And then it was over.
The first person who spoke was Nami.
"HELL YEAH!"
As she and Kyoko jumped up from the ground and started dancing around together, Midori brushed herself off and adjusted her forehead protector. Even though they had known where they were going as soon as their fingers had touched the cards, their landing was still iffy.
At least we landed together, Midori thought.
Kyoko spun around, her vaguely longer hair flying, and looked down at her clothes with a huge grin on her face. She liked what she saw. A loose, blood red shirt with billowing mid-length sleeves was the top layer of a full upper-body shirt of mesh. Black arm bands criss-crossed over her arm's netting, stopping right above her knuckles. She wore the standard black pants and more nets peeked out around the exposed parts of her legs. On her feet were black Suna shoes. A single black choker was wrapped around her neck, and finally, two tan straps (one with a Suna hitai-ate tied on) crossed over her chest, holding up a medium-sized scroll against her back.
"Wait a minute…" Midori said, studying Kyoko. "I didn't put a Suna band on…"
"Er, uh...Your clothes are nice, Midori!" Kyoko said nervously.
Midori sighed. Her ensemble consisted of a green kunoichi dress with two sets of purple buttons reminiscent of Tenten's old top and two slits up the sides. Bandages crossed over her shoulders and ended above her elbow where long, green gloves replaced them. She wore black shorts underneath which were followed by bandages that were bound around her knees and then knee-high black shinobi boots. A belt was hanging off of her waist with several compartments: one suspended over her left leg, one on each side of the waist, and one on the back adding to the back pouch. The Hikari Suishou swung from a black band tied around her neck simply because Midori found the previous technique of tying it on a loose string much too impractical and easily stolen.
"You did a pretty good job," Nami agreed. "But I think my hair should've been shorter."
"Any shorter and you'll look like a guy," Midori countered.
It was true. Nami's hair, which was in two layers (top layer red, bottom layer blond) was barely hovered over her shoulders. She had on a white two-inch tank top with an orange kanji for "Fox" written across the chest with an explosion of fire coming from behind. Dangling on her wrists were twin red wrist bands with buckles that matched the one residing on her neck. A red belt hung off her waist over her black pants and two silver rings simply for decoration circling around her right arm.
Before Nami could retort, Marieke, Shikamaru, and Neji appeared.
"Welcome back, girls," Marieke beamed, opening her arms wide. "To Konohagakure no Sato."
"It's good to be back, sensei," Kyoko grinned.
The group was supposed to go straight to the Hokage's office as soon as they arrived. However, they didn't count on some minor interference within the village…
"Nami? Kyoko? Midori? Is that you?" came a voice from behind.
"Ino!" Midori exclaimed.
Ino's eyes widened. "I can't believe it! You guys actually came back!"
"I hope you're saying that with a positive intention," Midori said.
"It's just that I—none of us—have seen you for practically three years! There's so much you've missed!"
"Ino, we're kind of busy," Shikamaru said wearily. "We've gotta check in with the Hokage."
"Yes, yes, just a minute, Shikamaru!" Ino said, turning back to the girls. "I've got to tell you everything that's been happening. I've got some juicy details about some people…" She winked.
Nami raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"
The two blond girls' stares seem to target Shikamaru.
Shikamaru slapped his forehead and muttered, "Troublesome."
"We should really get going," Neji said hastily. "Hokage-sama is waiting."
Ino waved goodbye and skipped off to tell everyone the news of the three girls' return. It would only be a matter of time until the whole village found out.
They reached the Hokage Tower a few minutes later, greeted by none other than Izumo and Kotetsu.
"Well, well, well, look whose back," Kotetsu remarked with a grin.
"Izumo-san, Kotetsu-san," Midori bowed. "It's good to see you."
"Hokage-sama is expecting us?" Marieke said.
"Yes," Izumo nodded. "Right this way."
Marieke, who was in the lead knocked on the Hokage's door before twisting the knob to reveal Tsunade, quickly shutting a drawer at her desk and looking towards them. Her smile held a certain approval. "I take it the mission was a success."
"BAA-CHAN!"
There was no way Tsunade was ready for the glomp that Nami and Kyoko were giving her.
"Guys!" Midori called, embarrassed.
"Hey Kyoko, I do believe her jugs got bigger."
"Really? I don't know…"
Tsunade grew red. "GET BACK OVER THERE," she barked dangerously.
The two shuffled back into their places and awaited instruction, grinning deviously.
Tsunade took a deep breath and said, "I was going to say it was nice to see you girls again, but I'm starting to think not…"
"Tsunade-sama, we were told that we were needed for information," Midori said, trying to get back on track. "But I have to warn you we only know a handful of information about the Akatsuki."
"Any information would be helpful," Tsunade said. "There are more things on the line than you know, but I won't push you today. I expect you're considerably tired, so I will let you rest. When I need you, I'll send for you, all right?"
"Much appreciated," Midori smiled.
Tsunade nodded. "Marieke, Shikamaru, Neji, a job well done. Everyone may leave now."
"Thank you." The group bowed and exited the room.
Eh...Sorry for the three boring paragraphs. I was reading this book and it had about a whole page of description about the main character's clothes. Now THAT was troublesome. So I tried to sort of condense the descriptions, but I think they're still kind of an eyesore, even for four or five sentences each. Oh well...
R&R please! Oh, my aching head...
-HM
