CHAPTER 2
After a long and, on my part, pretty uncomfortable walk because of me having to be carried, we finally stopped outside the gates of Konoha. Alyss, Viva, Zeala and I all looked up in surprise. We all blinked simultaneously and shook our heads.
"Well, I never expected it to be that big." We all said in unison. Team Kakashi looked at us shocked and I grinned before explaining.
"Don't worry about it, we're so close we often say the same things at the same time, in fact, you could say it's become a habit of ours." Team Kakashi nodded, well, except for Sakura, and we proceeded through the gates until the Jounin on guard duty stopped us.
"I'm sorry Kakashi, but no identification that you're from this village, no entry." Kakashi looked at the obviously new Jounin seriously and stated, "We found them unconscious outside of the village. They'll be needing urgent medical attention."
The guard stuttered, hesitated, then nodded, showing that we could pass through. The gates opened and when we stepped inside, my friends and I were once again surprised. Konoha was so much bigger up close than on the TV screen. Team Kakashi took us to Konoha Hospital, where we were all put into a room and told to wait by one of the nurses as she carefully removed my makeshift sling from my arm. I hissed in pain as she slid her hand and the ruined shirt down my arm, a few tears building at the corners of my eyes.
"FuuuuuUuuck……" I groaned through the pain, loud enough for everyone to hear. They all looked at me as the rest of my sling was pain stakingly removed after what felt like forever. After the nurse had finally removed my sling, I collapsed back into the pillows on the bed, panting a little.
"Are…..you okay, Artemis?" Naruto asked as I kept panting a bit, a single tear sliding down my cheek. I cracked my eyes open and looked at him, then everyone else in the room. I closed my eyes again and hissed as another wave of pain overcame me.
"Hell……no….." I breathed, hissing again as yet another wave of pain wreaked havoc through my body. Alyss looked at me in sympathy, then looked up at Team Kakashi.
"This is the first time Artemis has ever so much as broken a limb. She's never broken anything before now, only dislocated her knees several times in our world. But that could have changed when she came here. Her knees might just be stronger now, but I can't be sure."
"Well…..Alyss…..the only…..pain coming from…..my knees is from….my twisted knee….." I groaned and lay back again as someone came through the door. The someone had blonde hair in two low pony tails and a little purple diamond on her forehead, and appeared to be in her 20's or 30's.
"Alright, what's wrong with you?" Lady Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage asked as I rode through another wave of pain. I hissed again and whimpered a little. Alyss came over and rested a hand on my good arm, Viva was gently rubbing my temples, and Zeala was being Zeala, standing in a corner of the room like Sasuke, not really trusting anyone outside of our group in this room at the moment.
"Broken right arm…….twisted left knee……lump on my head….." I groaned out. Tsunade nodded and proceeded to heal my wounds. After it was over, I breathed out heavily and grinned a little.
"Thank you Lady Hokage." My friends and I said in unison. Tsunade tossed us all a small grin then left the room. I grinned again, and my friends had a little celebration.
"Art's all riiiight, Art's all riiiiight!" Viva and Alyss cheered. Zeala grinned at their antics like I did before I said, "you guys, we're in a hospital." Aly and Viv stopped their cheering.
"So?" Viva asked while I grinned at them.
"So," Zeala began. "there are other people in the building who want some sleep, numbskulls." She gave the both of them noogies and they tried blowing their hair off of their faces unsuccessfully. I laughed at the scene, then Viva turned to me, an evil grin on her face. I gulped.
"You know," She began. "I did mean it when I said you were going to regret it." Her sing song tone half told me otherwise. I gulped again as she pounced on me and started tickling my sides, where I was, unfortunately, most ticklish, and of course I started to laugh really hard, and squeal a bit until Viva was pried off of me. I panted hard as Viva exclaimed in her crazy voice, "You can't escape my tickle torture, I'll get you next time, mwah hahahahahaaaaa *cough, cough*" I laughed again. Alyss laughed as well as Team Kakashi, and even Sasuke smiled. Zeala grinned and ruffled Viva's hair again.
"Don't use the evil laugh for a while, Viv, it's starting to get to you." Viva pouted and tried blowing the hair off of her face again. Just then Tsunade came back into the room. We all looked at her as she pulled out four new looking headbands, all black.
"Now, I know you new girls are probably going to be staying for a while, and Kakashi told me about where you girls are from. Now, you have two options while you live here. You can either a) Train you butts off for the next few days and become ninja, more specifically Chunnin. Or b) you can be a boring citizen of Konoha who never gets to do anything fun."
We looked at eachother, then Tsunade. Tsunade looked back at us. Oh hell was I determined to become a ninja. I sat up then got up out of the hospital bed and stared Tsunade down. We had a staring contest for a while until I stood tall and proud and stated, "I, Artemis Ryans, vow to become a Kunoichi of Konoha."
Zeala pushed away from her corner and stood beside me, and, being half a foot taller than me, made me feel like a midget as she too, stood tall and proud and stated, "I, Zeala Isolde, vow to become a Kunoichi of Konoha."
Alyss stood on my other side and looked at Tsunade with determination in her eyes. "I, Alyss Mizuko, vow to become a Kunoichi of Konoha."
Viv stood beside Alyss and grinned at us all as we grinned at return. Then she met Tsunade's gaze. "I, Viva Shiroi, vow to become a Kunoichi of Konoha." Tsunade nodded then smiled at all of us.
"Then, Artemis Ryans, Zeala Isolde, Alyss Mizuko, Viva Shiroi, you will be trained by Team Kakashi until they think that you're ready to become Chunnin of Konoha. Zeala, for now, you and Viva will both be trained by Kakashi, Alyss, you will be trained by Naruto, and Artemis, you will be trained by….."We all looked at her in anticipation as she stated the name of the person I wanted to be trained by the least.
"Sasuke." She finished. I groaned mentally as Sasuke looked up, no emotion showing in his eyes, but I could tell he was thinking the same as me, 'Why the hell would she put us together?' I nodded as she put the headbands into her jacket pocket.
"When you have proved to me that you can all be successful Kunoichi, I will present you with these headbands, but for now, train hard, work hard, and you should be fine. You'll switch senseis a few times until they deem you ready."
We nodded, and, just when we thought she's stay quiet, Sakura piped up in her whiny voice.
"Lady Tsunade, how am I supposed to spend time with my Sasuke when he's training her?" She pointed at me as I sighed and shook my head, rubbing my temples to stop the oncoming headache.I then cracked my knuckles and flexed my hands repeatedly, a sure sign to my friends that I was beginning to become pissed off. Naruto, Kakashi, Tsunade and Sasuke looked curiously at my hand movements as my friends stepped back and away from me, their eyes locked on my hands. Sakura didn't even notice as she kept whining.
"And why can't Sasuke train me instead of her. That seems so much more logical. And I won't let that bitch steal my Sasuke away from me." I twitched and Zeala, Viva and Alyss gasped and looked at Sakura with anger and slight sympathy, very slight mind you, as my hand movements abruptly stopped and I became rigid.
"What. Did. You. Just. Call. Me?" I growled through gritted teeth, stepping forward, my hands balling into fists. Sakura finally looked down at my hands, but didn't care and looked back up at me and sneered.
"You heard me, freak. I called you a bitch, because that's exactly what you are, or didn't you notice?"
I lost it. I growled furiously as I saw red and brought my left hand back and socked Sakura in her precious nose, following up by a left spin kick to her side. All of Team Kakashi and Tsunade looked surprised, especially Sakura since she didn't see my punch coming, or the force behind both my punch and kick. Sakura fell to the floor with a bloody nose an I crouched down by her head and growled loud enough for everyone to hear, "Never, I repeat, never ever, call me a bitch, or you might just wake up with worse than a broken nose and bruised ribs in a ditch somewhere."
Alyss, Viva and Zeala nodded as Viva spoke up. "It's true, she did the exact same thing to a really nasty girl in our grade at school, and left her in a ditch about 600 kilometers from town, she transferred schools when she was found and no one in our town has heard from her since then."
Alyss continued. "She called Art a bitch as well, and we were all pissed off, but you, Sakura, had been grinding on Art's nerves since she met you if she lost it so quickly. When she cracks her knuckles and flexes her hands, that means you better back off and shut up because she's getting pissed off."
Zeala kept explaining as Sakura stood up shakily. "And when Art, or Viva even, lose it, they tend to go all out in the erms of 'beating someone up'. Viva's gone as far as breaking someone's leg, Art's given someone two black eyes, a broken nose, and bruised ribs, mind you this is just our human strength, without the help of any chakra or spiritual energies."
Viva piped in, "I also pushed someone down bus stairs and made them quadriplegic for life."
Everyone in the room besides me looked at Viva and asked in surprise, "You did?" Viva just nodded.
Everyone's eyes had widened in surprise, except for Zeala's and Alyss', as they already knew about all of this, and Viv and I didn't even move, well, Viv didn't, I was twitching, repeating in my head 'Mustn't severley injure obsessed Sasuke fangirl, mustn't severley injure Sasuke obsessed fangirl'. Alyss noticed my repetative twitching and laid a hand on my shoulder gently. I stiffened.
"Alright Art, I think you should calm down now. Breathe in slowly, then out. Please Art, stay calm." I breathed out shakily and nodded, but I still twitched a little.
"Screw this," I muttered. "If anyone needs me, I'm off looking for a guitar and a nice, quiet tree to sit in someplace." With that, I sprinted as fast as I could out of the room and down the street until I came to the main market place, where I slowed down and looked around until I found a music store.
I entered the musty store and started perusing the acoustic guitars they had in the store until I found one that I thought was perfect for me. It was a red-wood acoustic guitar, 6-string of course, that came with a tuner, a shoulder strap, a case, a stand, and a pick. It was nice and cheap too, about 600 ryou, which, if this currency is anything like the japanese ye currency, would only be about $6 in Australia.
I paid for my new guitar and packed everything into the case, pulled the case onto my back, then headed out, sprinting towards a park. When I arrived I saw that there was only a few people in the park. A few families having a great time with their dogs, kids playing on a play set, older kids playing fetch with their dogs or playing different kinds of games.
I sighed sadly and ran towards the nearest tree I could climb and scaled it until I came to a branch that was bent kind of like a hammock. I took my guitar off of my back and settled myself into it, tuned my new guitar, took my pick out, and strummed a few notes.
When I was sure it was perfectly tuned, I started to play the guitar piece from one of my favourite songs, 'If Today Was Your Last Day', from Nickelback's new album, 'Dark Horse'
If Today Was Your Last Day-Nickelback
My best friend gave me, the best advice
He said each day's a gift, and not a given right
Leave no stone unturned leave your fears behind
And try to take the path less travelled by
That first step you take is the longest stride
If today was your last day
And tomorrow was too late
Could you say good bye to yesterday
Would you live each moment like your last
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you had
If today was your last day
Against the grain should be a way of life
What's wort the prize is always worth the fight
Every second counts cause there's no second try
So live it like you'll never live it twice
Don't take the free ride in your own life
If today was your last day
And tomorrow was too late
Could you say good bye to yesterday
Would you live each moment like your last
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you had
Would you call old friends you never see
Reminisce old memories
Would you forgive you enemies
Would you find that one you're dreamin' of
Swear up and down to God above
That you'd finally fall in love
If today was your last day
If today was your last day
Would you make your mark by mending a broken heart
You know it's never too late
To shoot for the stars regardless of who you are
So do whatever it takes cause you can't rewind a moment in this life
Let nothing stand in your way
Cause the hands of time are never on your side
If today was your last day
And tomorrow was too late
Could you say good bye to yesterday
Would you live each moment like your last
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you had
Would you call old friends you never see
Reminisce old memories
Would you forgive you enemies
Would you find that one you're dreamin' of
Swear up and down to God above
That you'd finally fall in love
If today was your last day
I finished strumming the last chords and opened my eyes in surprise when I heard someone clapping. Well, more like people clapping. I looked down out of my tree to see that an audience had gathered.
"Meep. I did that good?" I asked myself as I jumped out of my tree and sat down on a bench while thinking of another song to play. I finally decided on another clean song since there were kids listening as well.
Gotta Be Somebody-Nickelback
This time I wonder what it feels like
To find the one in this life
The one we all dream of
But dreams just aren't enough
So I'll be waiting for the real thing
I'll know it by the feeling
The moment when we're meeting
We'll play out like a scene
Straight off the silver screen
So I'll be holdin' my breath
Right up till the end Until that moment when
I find the one that I'll spend forever with
Cause nobody wants to be the last one there
Everyone wants to feel like someone cares
Someone to love with my life in their hands
There's gotta be somebody for me like that
Cause nobody wants to go it on their own
And everyone wants to know they're not alone
There's somebody else that feels
the same somewhere
There's gotta be somebody for me out there
Tonight out on the street
Out in the moonlight
And dammit this fels too right
It's just like deja-vu
Me standin' here with you
So I'll be holdin' my breath
Could this be the end
Is it that moment when
I'll find the one that I'll spend forever with?
You can't give up
(when you're lookin' for)
A diamond in the rough
(because you never know)
When it shows up
(Make sure you're holdin' on)
Cause it could be the one
The one you're waiting on
Cause nobody wants to be the last one there
Everyone wants to feel like someone cares
Someone to love with my life in their hands
There's gotta be somebody for me
Nobody wants to go it on their own
Everyone wants to know they're not alone
Somebody else that feels
The same somewhere
There's gotta be somebody for me out there
Nobody wants to be the last one there
(when you're lookin' for)
Everyone wants to feel like someone cares
(because you never know)
Someone to love with my life in their hands
(Make sure you're holdin' on)
There's gotta be somebody for me out there
Everyone clapped and cheered as I stood up and bowed my head before disappearing from the park and into a nearby forest, where I relocated myself into a different tree and resumed my strumming.
"You naughty thing, You're rippin' up the dance floor hunny, You naughty woman……" I hummed quietly, strumming the guitar piece for 'Something in Your Mouth', another song by Nickelback from their album 'Dark Horse'. I kept strumming for a while until I felt like I was being watched. I quietly finished my strumming and packed up my guitar, stood up, and stated clearly, "What do you want?"
Sasuke stepped out from the other side of my tree and easily kept his balance using his chakra. He glanced at me, then my guitar, and smirked a little. He crouched on the branch I was sitting on.
"Lady Tsunade said after you left that training starts whenever we wish, by 'we' I mean me, Naruto and Kakashi, being your senseis and all. So, I decided that we're going to start today." I nodded and sighed, standing up and jumped out of the tree(It wasn't a long drop, you were on a low branch)and set my guitar down a few meters away from where we would be training.
"Okay, first, I'm gonna teach you how to use your chakra and how o control it. First, make this handsign," He showed me how to position my hands and I copied his movements before he continued. "then close your eyes. Now, do you see a blue fire?" I nodded. "That's your chakra, now, I want you to focus on your chakra until you can feel it moving throught your chakra stream. You'll know because you'll feel a little stronger when your chakra moves throught your body."
This went on for a while until I had finally gotten control of my chakra, tehn he started teaching me some ninjutsu and genjutsu. He taught me his Phoenix Flower and Fireball jutsus, and the simple Clone Jutsu. He also taught me how to walk up trees. After all of this he led me to a hotspring but didn't stop at the edge. He kept walking until he was walking on the water.
"Alright, what you have to do is-" I cut him off, I'd seen this episode a thousand times.
"Realease a steady flow of chakra from your feet, because water is a moving surface."
Sasuke looked slightly puzzled.
"How did you….?"
"TV shows in my world, you learn a lot from them." I replied, shrugging, then concentrating on sending chakra to my feet and releasing a steady amount of it as I walked towards the hot water. On my first try my feet sunk a little into the water.
"Not enough chakra flow. Try boosting it a little." Sasuke stated. I concentrated and boosted my chakra flow a lttle bit, and that brought my feet out of the water. I looked up at Sasuke and grinned.
"Good, now try walking." I took an unsteady step forward, then another, until I was walking comfortably in circles around Sasuke. I smirked in triumph and came to a stop in front of him.
"So, what comes next sensei?" I asked as I stood in front of him. He crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes as he explained, "That's it for today, tomorrow I'll work on your speed so I can teach you another ninjutsu."
I nodded and picked up my guitar case, noticing that my bags were there as well.
'Zeala, she must have dropped them off while I was training with Sasuke.' I thought as I picked them up as well. After I had my bags, Sasuke and I walked out of the forest and back into Konoha, looking for the rest of the group. We caught up with them walking away from the ramen bar towards Naruto's place.
"Hey Guys! Wait up!" I called as Sasuke and I ran to catch up.
"I don't hear you saying thank you." Zeala said with a smile at me.
"Oh, yeah. Thanks for taking my bag Z." I replied giving her a one armed hug as we walked on.
"So where are you guys staying?"I asked my friends.
"We're staying on the floor at Naruto's place-"Viv said.
"And I'm sleeping on his roof." Zeala said as Viv forgot to mention that.
"You're so weird, Zeala Isolde." I said pulling Z's tail.
"I really would've thought that the name would've tipped you off when you signed the contract of being my friend." I said as I rolled my eyes at her but still smiling.
"Also don't touch the tail, having a sixteen year old that's just discovered their charkra yanking your tail doesn't exactly feel like a playful tug." I said pulling her tail like she'd just pulled mine.
"Like you can talk." She said as she rubbed her backside.
"Feels like you've discovered yours too."
"What can I say? I learnt a lot from those TV shows that my mother deemed idiotic." I said ruffling her hair and jogging to walk with the others as she looked at me with her mouth open. Zeala kept an eye on me making sure I didn't suddenly run up behind her and attack her with any of my new found jutsus. She figured I'd learnt something because Sasuke seemed to her like the type that didn't mess around, and he was.
Then I did it, I cloned and made the clone keep walking as I tackled her. Zeala's eyes widened as she saw her black hair. I landed on top of her but she rolled us over so that I was underneath her.
"You do realise you made a mistake don't you Artemis Ryans?" Z asked as she straddled me.
"My whatever do you mean Zeala Isolde?" I asked with a smile.
"I mean you shouldn't mess with someone bigger than you." She said smiling back as she started tickling me. She knew all the places I was most ticklish and made me laugh and beg for mercy so much that I ended up crying from the lack of air. She smiled, clearly satisfied and jumped up off of me.
"We're not the only ones who've discovered our charkra." She said nodding to Alyss and Viv.
"You think so?" I asked getting up and brushing myself off.
"I don't think so, I know so. I can just feel their charkra signatures and tell if they're active or dominant." Z said shrugging her shoulders.
"Whether they did it on purpose or by accident they've activated it. Just like I did mine. You should be able to tell too if you clear your head a bit and just take in your surroundings." Zeala explained as she looked up at the stars. I don't know how many times I had seen her do that, it's why most people think of Zeala as mysterious and paranoid, but she just looks out for us, and my friends and I know that she's just looking out for us in her own way, because, after all, she's the oldest in our group, being seventeen. Alyss and I are both sixteen, and Viva takes the place of the youngest in our group, being fourteen. We're an odd group, but we couldn't be any closer.
"How can you do that?" I asked incredulously.
"What?" she asked.
"Just clear your head of everything that's happened to us and just think clearly?"I asked. I kept on thinking hard about how I could have ended up here with my best friends in the world with me, it was a really strange phenomenon.
Zeala shrugged. "You know if anything, my head's probably the most crowded but I just focus on one thing at a time not three different things. That's why I've always looked at the stars. They help me sort through everything that's happened." She said not looking at me.
"You guys think I'm crazy but you should try it sometime. Find something that calms you and then just sort things out in your head."
"Right." I said with a nod.
"You think I'm crazy don't you." Zeala asked, looking at me again.
"Hell, if you're crazy then I don't know what I am. You've probably got to be the sanest of us four." I said putting a hand on her shoulder with a smile.
"Thanks, Art." Zeala said, returning my smile wih a small one of her own.
"We're here." Naruto said showing us into his little house.
