Thanks for the reviews, people, they made my day!
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Someday, I'll find you
Someday, I'll tell you it's true
Be my tongue tied, or my eyes shut,
I'll still love you no matter what.
But for now, I dream we'll meet soon,
As you hold me tightly under the red moon...
"Shizuka, what'er you doing in here?" Shizuka's mother, Midori, asked, walking into her daughter's room. Shizuka, who was lying on her bed, held up her iPod, telling her mother she was listening to music. Midori put her hands on her hips.
"It's four thirty, shouldn't you be packing up to go to your friend's house?" Shizuka nodded, turned off her iPod and started to pull clothes out of her dresser, stuffing them in a near by bag as fast as possible.
"Relax, you have time," Midori said. "I was just telling you that you should start packing now so you can avoid this." She gestured to the messy heap of clothes that were half in, half out of Shizuka's bag. Shizuka sat on the floor, picked out one article of clothing from the pile and started to fold them properly.
"Are walking over to your friend's?" Shizuka nodded, placing one of her neatly folded shirts back in her bag. Midori glanced at the clock. "So what time are you leaving?" she asked. Shizuka raised four fingers on one hand and five on the other.
"Alright, well, tell me when it's four forty-five so I can see you off," Midori told her daughter, walking out of the room. Shizuka grabbed her iPod off her bed, stuck the head phones back in her ears, and continued listening to her song as she folded her clothes, mouthing some of the words.
Once four forty-five rolled around, Shizuka was all packed and ready to go. She said goodbye to her mom and left the house, walking out into the streets of the Leaf Village.
The sun was already starting to sink in the sky, casting shadows about the street as Shizuka continued to walk to Ino's house. She smiled. She was really starting to like the Konaha. When Shizuka's mom had told her they had to leave the Getsugakure, Shizuka was completely against it: She'd be leaving her friends, her teachers, her home, et cetra. But, after the first few days of living in her new village, she learnt the Hidden Lead Village wasn't so bad. Besides, being a ninja was what she practically lived for, and she was put into a team faster than she thought she would.
They're only temporary, Shizuka told herself. Lady Hokage said she'll put me in a diffrent team once she found one that was incomplete. Still, the girl liked her temporary team mates. Especially Ino.
She's so nice, Shizuka thought. I'm glad I've got a friend now... I was worried I was going to have the 'loner' label stuck to my forhead when I got here! Suddenly, Shizuka saw Ino's house up ahead.
It was a fairly large house. It was covered in white paneling, had grey tiles, and a small porch that lead up to the front door. Shizuka climbed the cement stairs, approached the door, and rang the doorbell. She immideately heard a sharp, high-pitched yipping of a small dog sound from the other side of the door.
"Soba! Go lie down!" yelled Ino's voice. The door opened. Ino smiled at Shizuka.
"Oh, hey," she said. "Come in." Ino made way for Shizuka to pass. As Shizuka stepped over the threshold, she saw the source of the yipping from before.
Standing near the door was a small little dog with a squished in face, a silky black and white coat, and fluffy, floppy ears. It looked up at Shizuka with it's head cocked to one side. It reminded her of what she did when she was confused too. Ino walked up beside her and pet the dog on the head.
"This is Soba," she said. "He's a Japanese Spaniel. Do you have a dog?" Shizuka shook her head. She didn't, but she wanted one.
"Ino, what's Soba barking at?" asked a male voice. Shizuka looked up. Approaching the two girls was a fairly tall man that looked a lot like Ino. He had the same long blonde ponytail, roughly the same facial structure, and the same small, hooped earings. Ino stood up straight, drawing her hand from her pet's head.
"Nothing, Dad," she said. She turned to Shizuka. "This is my dad. Dad, this is Shizuka, she's our new team mate." Shizuka waved, smiling. Ino's father gave her a nod.
"So, Ino tells me you're from the Moon Village, right?" Shizuka nodded. "Do you like the Konaha so far?" Another nod.
"C'mon, I gotta show you my room," Ino said to Shizuka. The two girls ascended the stairs, Soba trotting at their heels. Ino's second floor was a corridor with wooden floor boards and walls decorated with various pictures either of each individual of the family, or everyone together. Ino lead Shizuka down the hallways until they came to a wooden door with a fashionable 'Keep Out' sign hanging on the door knob. Ino turned it and let Shizuka into her room.
Ino's room was a big room. It had lavendar carpeting, and purple walls with various posters and pictures on them. Her bed was big, soft looking bed with a pastel coloured bed spread. In one corner of the room was a big dresser that had hearts as handles, and beside that was a wooden books case that held many books of diffrent genres. Her room was much nicer and cleaner than Shizuka's at the moment, due to moving and all.
Lucky, Shizuka thought. She smiled and turned to Ino.
"Like it?" she asked. "My parents let me choose the colours myself." Shizuka nodded. Ino definately had a good sense of style. Ino walked over to her window and opened it a little.
"My mom got us a scary movie for later," she said. "You're not scared easily, are you?" Shizuka shook her head. "Good, because I read this review about this movie in a magazine once, and apperently, it's really scary." Shizuka smiled. Watching the horror film later would be fun, but what were they going to do right now?
"Hey, if you don't mind me asking," Ino said, sitting on her bed, Soba jumping up on her comforter as well. "Why exactly are you mute?"
Shizuka knew she couldn't answer this with actions, so she dug into her travel bag, pulled out a small note pad and pen that she had in it's front pocket, scribbled some words down and handed it to Ino.
"I was born without a larynx" is what it read. Ino raised her eyebrows.
"That sucks," she said, handing the note pad back to Shizuka. Shizuka shrugged and scribbed some more words down on the paper:
"It's not that bad... I mean, I've had to deal with being silent for thirteen years of existence, and I've learnt that it makes me who I am. Besides, it really helps when I have to be quiet on certain mission." Ino shrugged.
"I guess so," she said. "But when you and I sparred, I used my Mind Transfer Jutsu on you, and I tried to talk, but I couldnt; That'd drive me up the wall!" Shizuka wrote some more on her paper.
"Oh, is that why I felt like a had woken up from sleeping after you did this weird thing with your hands?" Ino nodded.
"Yes, and that's also why your hands weren't in a seal afterwards: I had entered your mind and stopped your jutsu." It was Shizuka's turn to raise her eyebrows.
"Wow, that's cool. Tell me about your mind jutsu, I'm curious." Ino told her friend that mind jutsus were signature jutsus of the Yamanaka family, and that she had worked hard with them. Shizuka smiled.
"I wish I could do that," she wrote. "Does your family do anything else?"
"Well, I do work in our flower shop," she said. "I've always liked flowers. And arranging them."
" I love roses," Shizuka wrote. "And jasmines." Ino smiled.
"Me too," she said. "We have them both in our shop." Shizuka smiled, and glanced around Ino's room again. She noticed a picture that stood on the dresser. She pointed to it.
"What?" Ino followed Shizuka's finger. "Oh." The blonde got off the bed, walked over to her dresser and picked the picture up.
"It's a picture of us," she said, showing Shizuka. In the middle of the picture, stood Ino smiling happily (She's so photogenic! Shizuka thought). To her right stood Shikamaru, not smiling at all, still looking bored, and to her left stood Chouji smiling widely. Behind the teens stood Asuma smiling, his cigarete still in his mouth. Shizuka smiled.
"I like you guys, you're really nice," she wrote, showing Ino. The other kunoichi smiled in response. Shizuka glanced back at the photo. She added something to her sentance: "And you guys all seem to have those silver hooped earings. I wish I had my ears pierced." After reading that sentance, Ino got a strange look on her face, as if she just had an epiphany. Shizuka furrowed her brow, staring at the shocked-looking girl.
"I have a great idea!" Ino said, finally. She approached Shizuka, pushed her long black hair back, and inspected the side of her head.
"Perfect!" she said. "Now that you're a part of Team 10, you can wear the earings like all of us! I can pierce your ears for you! I know how." Shizuka got a scared look on her face. She liked Ino, but as far as ramming needles through her ear lobes went, she would just rather not do that. She quickly scrawled her refusal down on a clean sheet of paper in the note book.
"Oh, that's alright... Thank you, though."
"Aw, c'mon," Ino said. "You'll be just like us, and they'll look so nice in your ears." She gestured to a chair in the corner of her room. "Sit yourself down and relax, I'll be right back." With that, Ino disappeared. Shizuka sighed. She was mildly afraid of needles and was skeptical about Ino's piercing skills. But, if it meant social acceptance with her new team, then Shizuka sat herself down in the chair and waited until her friend came back.
Moments later, Ino stepped back into the room, her arms and hands full with a pair of small silver earings, a small bowl, a bottle of alcohol, a tray of ice cubes, paper towel, pliers, and a ominously large sewing needle. Shizuka gave her a scared look as she set her materials down on the dresser.
"Oh, don't worry," Ino said. "My grandma pierced my ears this way, and it wasn't so bad." Shizuka watched her friend pour some alcohol in the bowl and drop the sewing needle and earings in it.
"It's to disinfect them," Ino explained. "It's a simple procedure, Shizuka. All I'm going to do is hold an ice cube behind your ear lobe so that the needle doens't go into your neck while I pierce your ears with it, then I'll simply put the earings in for you."
"What are the pliers for?" Shizuka asked, still apprehensive.
"They're for prying the ice cube off the needle," Ino said. "Don't be so scared, nothing bad's gonna happen. By the end, you'll have pretty earings like the rest of us in your ears." She took the earings and sewing needle out of the alcohol filled bowl and put them on a paper towel sheet she tore from the roll. After that, Ino pried an ice cube from the tray and held it to the back of Shizuka's ear lobe. The cold, slippery surface made Shizuka shuddered as she shut her eyes.
"Okay, hole number one," Ino said. With that, Shizuka flinched slightly, letting out a small gasp as she felt a bee sting her ear lobe. Afterwards, the stinging sensation speard through her whole ear. Ino grabbed the pliers and pried the ice cube from the needle, setting it down on another paper towel sheet. Once her hand was free, Ino picked up one small hooped earing, pulling the needle out of Shizuka's ear, and stuck the earing in the new hole.
"There, that wasn't so bad, was it?" she asked. Shizuka shook her head, feeling the stinging sensation subsiding now. Ino smile.
"What did I tell you?" she said, cheerfully. She held another cube of ice to Shizuka's other ear lobe and did the same procedure as before: Needle, pliers, earings. By the end, Shizuka's ears were a little sore, but she was smiling as she gazed at her reflection in Ino's hand mirror, the pretty little earings dangling from her ear lobes.
"You can keeps those," Ino offered. "They were an extra pair I had." Shizuka mouthed two words she knew Ino could read: "Thank you".
"No problem," Ino said, admiring her work. "You look great." Shizuka smiled wider. She officaly felt like a member of Team 10 now. Suddenly a thought hit her.
Mom's gonna kill me! she thought, worried all of a sudden. But her uneasiness soon disappeared as Ino put her stuff away and headed for the door.
"C'mon," she said, cheerfully. "My mom said it was supper time when I went down there."
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Well, there's the next chapter done. Hope you liked it!
