Alright, so this chapter takes place 5 years after Narumi arrives in Konoha. C: At this point, she lives in the local orphanage with Naruto and regularly attends classes at the Academy. I hope you're enjoying this so far! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything in it's universe. If I did, there would be some major changes xD

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Chapter 2: Meeting

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~~~ Narumi

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"Nee-chan! Nee-chan, wake up!"

A high, childish voice rung in the ears of an eleven year old girl, and she groaned sluggishly, not making any effort to move.

"Nee-chan? C'mon, I know you're awake!"

She rolled onto her side with her back facing the blonde haired boy she knew was at the side of the bed. Deep red locks of hair fell over her face, covering the faint smile that came over the girl's lips. She loved waking up to the sound of her beloved younger brother's voice. To her, he was like an adorable little angel that was eager for her to wake up and start the day. Which was odd, since he was being rather loud.

"Nee-chan!"

Deciding to give the poor child a break, Narumi lazily pushed her self into a sitting position, yawning to prevent the youngster from seeing her grin. "I'm up, I'm up." She smiled, looking down at the irritated looking whisker-faced five year old. His spiky blonde hair was messy, and his arms were folded over his pale, cream colored shirt in agitation. Bright blue eyes returned her gaze with an unwavering steadiness that reminded her of his father, the late Fourth Hokage. She mentally pushed her thoughts from the subject, returning herself to the present when a sudden realization came to mind. "Naruto? Why are you awake?"

"You gotta get up!" He pouted, letting an arm fall to the side while his stubby little finger pointed to the clock on the bare wall. "Aren't you gonna be late?"

"Huh?" The red-haired girl's brows furrowed the slightest, and her eyes followed the direction of his finger. After a few moments, she let out a small gasp and threw her blanket to the far side of the bed, scrambling off the bed to get to her dresser. No wonder he was up earlier than she was- She'd slept in!

All in a rush, the girl zoomed from one place in the room to another, grabbing numerous things she needed while she hurriedly spoke to the younger boy. "Have you eaten?" and "Will you be okay while I'm gone?" were only a couple of the questions she blurted out as she got ready.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah! I've done all o' those!" He said in a slightly whiny tone, shooing her into the rickety hall of the orphanage. "C'mon, nee-chan! You gotta go!"

She laughed, stopping herself in the middle of the narrow hallway and turning to him. "Calm down, do you really not want me here?" She asked jokingly, ignoring the slight pang of hurt she felt when she spoke.

"No!" The blue-eyed jinchuriki instantly grabbed the cloth of her pale gold kimono-like shirt, shaking his head vigorously so his hair swished back and forth with it. "I want you to go so you can come home faster.." He mumbled. He frowned deeply at her as if to scold her for thinking that way.

Narumi blinked, lapsing into a somewhat relieved smile afterwards. "Okay, I will then." She bent down to kiss his forehead, ruffling his already messy spiked hair. "I'll be off!" She waved briefly before spinning on her heel and making her way down the hall. As she went along, saying her usual morning greeting to the other children and the adults in the orphanage, vague, quiet voices whispered to her from the back of her mind.

Just another day of classes, They said to her, lowly but clearly, And then you'll be back to him. Back to the child you've sworn to protect.

It's just another day.

~.~

Narumi sighed in relief upon sitting down in her seat. Luckily, she hadn't slept in too late, so she was able to arrive on time with a few extra minutes to spare. She looked around in boredom, habitually taking a strand of her unusually long hair and twirling it around with her fingers. She wondered silently to herself what there was to do with the little time she had between now and the start of class. Perhaps she could take a try at naming each one of her classmates - To herself, of course - before class session began. She nodded, granting herself permission and beginning to pick out her fellow students one by one. The young girl was able to recall most of her classmates' names, until her eyes rested on two unfamiliar looking blondes at the entrance of the classroom.

Her brows raised, it was rare for new students to appear, especially out of the blue. It was strange, she thought, that there would be kids arriving in the middle of the school year. She shrugged it off, fixing her attention on the boys at the door.

They looked different, yet the same. Siblings, she assumed. Both had blonde hair and blue eyes, only they were in different shades. One was obviously taller than the other. He stood a little hunched over, with his hands deep in his sweater pockets, so Narumi made an assumption that he was introverted and didn't like to speak. The air about the boy seemed cold, calculating as well as somewhat.. Lonely.

His hair was noticeably spiky. But not as wild as Naruto's. She noted, smiling to herself before continuing her observation. The taller one definitely had a brighter shade of blonde hair than his companion, who had a neater version of his hair, only paler. He wore a pale blue sweater that seemed to weigh him down, and slate grey shorts with a chain linking a belt strap to an object that lay inside his pocket. Before Narumi could wonder what it was, she caught a glimpse of a symbol imprinted in dark red on the back of his sweater.

It was unique looking: In the center was a medium sized circle, and to the sides of it were what looked like brackets. A smaller one and a larger one were spaced out evenly on both sides. Above and below the center dot, were two tiny ones. Her head cocked to the side, intrigued by what the symbol could possibly have represented. She shook the curiosity out of her mind; She could find that out later. So, she went on and continued to observe him, and the next thing that caught her attention were his eyes.

His eyes were narrower, sharper than the other pair she saw. The resemblance was subtle, but she thought his eyes were like her mothers, except his were an ultramarine blue. The eyes of a hawk, able to see anything and everything in its surroundings. The boy turned his head, and for a split second, their eyes met and locked in a stare. The girl froze. But as soon as it happened, the blonde looked away again, disinterested. Yes, Narumi thought, letting out the breath she only now realized she was holding in. His eyes are sort of like hers.

She bit her lower lip when she felt her cheeks heat up with the embarrassment of being caught. So instead of risking another look at the older sibling, she turned her attention to the younger one. The atmosphere around him was completely different from the one that lingered around his brother, this one seemed to be happier, bouncier- Very energetic. His head of pale blonde hair was neatly kept, with the exception of the ends of his hair that curled outwards. His big, round childlike eyes were the color of a clear blue sky, and the sparkle in them seemed to radiate off of him. His clothing consisted of a pastel red shirt with a long sleeved white shirt underneath, as well as short that were similar to his brother's, but in a darker hue. He too bore the odd looking symbol on his clothes..Only his was smaller, and located on his left shoulder embedded in navy blue inside a diamond shaped hole on red his over-shirt.

Before the redhead could think any more, she found that the boy she'd been looking at came over to her desk. He had a wide smile on his face and his hands were behind his back as he looked upon the girl sitting before him. His mouth opened and out came the simplest of greetings, "Hi!"

Narumi blinked in surprise, glancing around to see if there was anyone else he could be talking to before turning back to him. He was speaking to her? "Hello.." She smiled back awkwardly, she didn't know that new students could be so outright social on their first day.

"Mind if I sit beside you?" He motioned to the empty seat beside her, the smile never fading from his face. "I don't really like sitting in the back, it's kinda dusty."

"Uh.." Her green orbs eyed the seat he wanted, going back to him afterwards in reluctance. He was a peculiar boy, she thought, not like others she knew. She scooted over to make room and shook her head, "Go ahead, I don't mind."

"Great!" His smile transformed into a grin, and she watched as he took his seat beside her. He shifted so that he was angled towards her, raising a hand in her direction. "I'm Kichiro Amamizu. " His head tilted to the side as he continued to look at her. "What's your name?"

She stared at his hand in a dumbfounded fashion, lifting hers to meet it in an odd handshake. "Narumi M-" She paused, correcting and silently scolding herself for almost getting her own name wrong. She wasn't that person at the moment. "Narumi Uzumaki." She finally answered, smiling in hopes of covering her mistake, "My name is Narumi Uzumaki."

"Narumi.." Kichiro repeated, trailing off with an unexpected blank stare before his lips curled upwards again. "I like it! I'll remember that." The strangely charming blonde laughed a little, turning back to face the front. "I just moved here with my family. This is my very first day!" He said, enthusiasm engulfing the redhead's eardrums. "It's my brothers, too." He casually gestured to the narrow-eyed blonde who moved to sit in the farthest corner of the room, looking as gloomy as he did when he walked in.

So they were brothers, she thought. But if that were true, how come it looked like they stood clear of each other's path when they were at the door? She didn't see them speak to each other at all, either.

Questions rolled into her mind like waves. Why would he sit far away from his own brother? Shouldn't he be with Kichiro, sitting with the person to whom he was most familiar with until he met any new friends? Apparently not, since he appeared to be indifferent to Kichiro's absence.

Rather than burrowing her way into matters she knew she wasn't supposed to disturb during a first meeting, she decided to answer simply. "That's cool." She replied, folding her arms on the desk and leaning slightly. "So how do you like it here so far?"

"It's great!" He said instantaneously, and his mouth opened to talk further. But he was interrupted by another more grown up voice. "Alright, class. Let's get started!" Kichiro turned his head to the voice's owner with a questioning expression, and Narumi did the same.

Up front, standing in front of the forest green chalk board was Daikoku Funeno-sensei. He was a big man, with a round face and brown hair on his head that was covered by a bandanna-type forehead protector and a stubble of a goatee on his chin. The clothing he wore was standard for most of the higher level shinobi that Narumi had seen; It included a long sleeve navy blue shirt under a green flak jacket, complete with the scroll holders. His bottoms were an identical shade of blue to his undershirt, and he had the normal sandals on. Narumi always thought of him as a funny man, but also very kind and patient. She was always more than willing to listen to his lectures and explanations in class; They were always interesting.

As the class settled down, he took a step forward and spoke again. "Okay everyone, it seems we have some new students here. May I please ask them to stand up?" He smiled after a short pause. "You know who you are."

She felt the air move, so she knew that the blonde beside her was standing. Her eyes scanned across the room to the other sibling and saw that he too was on his feet, looking dejectedly at nothing in particular she could see.

Daikoku's voice sounded again, "These two young gentlemen are Kichiro and Kenichi Amamizu. They just arrived to Konoha, so please provide them with a warm welcome, since they will be staying here from now on." Narumi heard many mumbled yeses and okays in response, and saw her teacher's head nod in approval. "Well then. Now that that's done, we can get started with today's lesson. You may sit down now, boys."

So they sat. And thus, class began.

~.~.~.~

End Chapter 2