Yay, a new chapter! Just a few reviews are enough to motivate me! I'm just happy I got SOME. Things are pretty low on the action meter at the moment, but I assure you, there will be more action in later chapters! Thanks for the reviews and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
It was a cold, dark, starry night in the village of Konoha. Iruka had managed to find the girls a decent place with SEPARATE rooms. It was small with five rooms total, one for each girl, one living room/kitchen, and one bathroom. The bathroom was the size of a closet and the bedrooms were about one size bigger, but it was cozy and decent. The girls were just glad they were able to score a home at such short notice.
Nami lay in her bed, unable to sleep. Usually she would've slept like a log but tonight…it was different. She knew her ninja info card was pretty impressive, the stats being pretty high, but could they really be right on the dot? Could she really be as powerful as her card said she was?
The next morning was bright and warm, the perfect day for sight-seeing in Konoha village. First off, they stopped by Ichiraku Ramen for breakfast.
"We can't keep eating this stuff…" Midori said, stirring her ramen around as if she wanted to eat it but knew that it would be terrible to eat if she ever wanted to be a decent ninja. Then again, Naruto ate three square meals of ramen or more each day and he wasn't too bad…
"Oh, come on! You've never eaten Ichiraku ramen before! How would you know?" Kyoko said.
"Yeah, Midori! It's good!" Nami added. "Why are you so down anyway? We always talked about what we would do if we went into this world and you always knew what you wanted! And now that we finally get a chance, you're totally bumming us down!"
"I know what she needs," Kyoko said, grinning reticently. She leaned over to Nami and whispered something into her ear.
A foxy grin crossed Nami's face. She and Kyoko turned towards Midori with identical looks.
"Um…" Midori said tentatively. She slowly stood up and attempted to back away. "I'll just…be going now…"
In two seconds flat, Kyoko and Nami were at Midori's side, hooking their arms with Midori's.
"Guys! Let me go!" Midori pleaded, afraid of what type of torture they titled 'what she needed'.
Her friends didn't answer and swept her away, leaving only a cloud of dust in front of Ichiraku Ramen.
A few minutes later, the three girls were standing in front of a grand complex known as the Hyuuga Mansion.
"No," Midori said flatly.
"Come on, you know you wanna," Kyoko said, poking Midori playfully.
Midori stared at her so solemnly, Kyoko was a bit afraid. "I am not doing it. That's stupid."
"It is not," Nami said. "Just say hi!"
"You two are aware that there are numerous people in the Hyuuga Clan and that he's probably not even home anyway, right?"
"Erm…" Nami and Kyoko exchanged uncertain glances.
Midori stared at the two. "You two are unbelievable."
"Of course we knew!" Nami exclaimed disdainfully. "We only wanted you to go in and ask where he trains so we can find him easier! Sheesh, we aren't idiots!"
"I said you're unbelievable, not idiotic."
"Well fine then!" Kyoko said. "I guess we'll just have to leave and—"
Without any notice, Kyoko and Nami shoved Midori into the door of the Hyuuga complex.
WHAM!
"Argh!" Midori fell backwards and the door opened, revealing none other than Hyuuga Hiashi.
"May I help you, young lady," Hiashi said, raising an eyebrow. "And I find it more efficient to knock on the door with your fist, not your body."
Midori turned red with embarrassment. "G-Gomenasai…" She stood up and brushed herself off.
"Well? What is your business here? Speak up, girl," Hiashi said pushily.
"W-Well…I…um…" Midori spoke in such a way that resembled Hinata. "I was wondering…where Neji…trained…"
Hiashi stared at her for a second. "Neji?"
Midori stared at her feet and nodded; her cheeks beet red.
"He trains in a forest area with his team," Hiashi said, but his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "And why do you require such information?"
"No reason," Midori said, a little too quickly.
Even though Hiashi suspected something fishy, he didn't think it was important. This girl didn't seem like the type to harm anything or anyone, and if she did want to fight Neji, she would surely lose. As much as he hated to admit it, Neji was one of the strongest in the Hyuuga Clan.
"Very well, then," Hiashi said. "Now leave my doorstep."
Midori obeyed and quickly got the heck out of there.
Meanwhile, Kyoko and Nami were concealing themselves some feet away in a nearby store. Although it looked as if they were browsing, they had been keeping a close eye on their more serious friend.
Midori stomped over to the two, anger in her eyes. "You guys…are the worst…"
Nami and Kyoko smiled.
"How'd it go?" Nami said pleasantly.
"You know very well how it went!" Midori raged. "Hyuuga Hiashi is the scariest man I've ever talked to!"
"It looks like it," Kyoko chuckled. "I'm glad I don't have to talk to him. He's creepy and mean."
"Oh really?" Midori said, crossing her arms. "And it was completely pointless too. You two just wasted five minutes of my life. Thanks a lot."
"We wasted your life?" Nami said in false disbelief. "I'm surprised at you! I thought you wanted to know where Neji trains."
"He wasn't exactly specific, you know," Midori pouted. "Nothing good came out of this."
"Yes it did!" Kyoko urged. "You know that Neji trains in the forest!"
"I knew that already," Midori said.
"Yeah…well…"
"Never mind," Midori said, waving the conversation off. "I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'm going off on my own, so you guys have fun around here. And don't disturb the peace, please."
"Where are you going?" Nami asked.
"You guys are so smart, you should know," Midori said, and she walked off.
"She's totally off to see Neji," Kyoko smirked.
"Obviously."
"So what're we going to do then?" Kyoko asked.
"Why don't you ship yourself off to Suna to find Gaara?"
"Ha. Ha. You're so funny."
"I try."
At that moment, the girls noticed a familiar goggled ninja and a small child.
"Hey, look! It's Naruto and Konohamaru!" Nami remarked.
The two saw Konohamaru make a hand sign and transform into a…particularly chubby version of a girl a few feet away from them. Naruto had a look on his face that showed that he was not predominantly pleased. He made a comment and the girl appeared behind him, knocking him on the head.
"Hey, Naruto!" Nami waved cheerfully.
Naruto and Konohamaru turned. Naruto jumped when he saw the girls.
"Hey, let's go hang with Naruto!" Nami suggested.
"He looks kind of freaked out," Kyoko remarked.
"Nonsense!" Nami exclaimed, dragging Kyoko over. "Naruto, you remember us?"
"How could I forget?" Naruto said.
"Hey, leader, who're those two?" Konohamaru asked, tugging on Naruto's jacket.
"Just some girls I met yesterday," Naruto explained. "They're uh…Nyoko and Kami, right?"
"That's Kyoko and Nami," Nami clarified.
"Right!"
"I'm Konohamaru!" Konohamaru introduced. He shyly added, "You two are pretty."
"Aw! You're so sweet!" Kyoko squealed.
"So…what're you doing, Naruto?" Nami asked innocently.
"…Nothin'…" Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Yeah…I'm not buying that," Nami said, immediately serious.
"Well it's none of your business what I'm doing anyway!" Naruto said a bit snappily.
"Well!" Nami said with over-exaggerated shock.
"Sorry," Naruto said. "I'm just teaching Konohamaru here how to do a real jutsu."
"What jutsu is that?"
"The Oiroke no Jutsu!" Konohamaru piped.
"Stupid! They're girls! Don't tell them that!" Naruto scolded, knocking Konohamaru on the head.
SLAP! SLAP!
"OWWWWWW!" Naruto wailed, rubbing his two new hand marks on his cheeks.
"You disgust me, Naruto!" Nami said.
"Why are you teaching Konohamaru such a bad jutsu?!" Kyoko demanded.
"He wanted to!" Naruto cried in his defense.
"And I still haven't mastered it yet! C'mon, leader! We won't have a lot of time!"
"Well, you'll have plenty of time to because Kyoko and I have some business to tend to! Besides, we don't wanna stick around for…this," Nami said.
Nami grabbed Kyoko's hand and pulled her off leaving a red-cheeked Naruto and a dumbfounded Konohamaru.
"What business?"
"Stupid, if we change just one thing that's supposed to happen while we're here, who knows what twisted thing will happen!"
"Like Konohamaru completing the Oiroke no Jutsu?" Kyoko said doubtfully.
"It could happen," Nami said mystically.
"Yeah…right…" Kyoko said, still unconvinced.
"Hmph. Well you can never be too careful, Midori always says."
"I guess." Suddenly, she gasped and grabbed Nami's arm forcefully.
"Hey! I punch guys out with this arm!"
"Sorry! But let's go in that store!" Kyoko exclaimed, pointing to a store and jumping up and down like a child.
"Huh?" Nami glanced at the store and sighed. "But I wanted to go spar at the gym…"
"After this!"
"Fine."
As long as I'm in Konoha, I might as well make friends with my fellow genin, Midori thought. Team Gai came to mind, but she shook her head furiously. "No! I have to see people my own age first!"
When she saw a few people staring at her, she turned red and quickened her step, cheeks pink. I've been hanging around Kyoko too much.
Where to go, where to go…she thought idly. Suddenly, a gust of wind threw her forward onto her stomach. For the slightest tenth of a second, Midori had seen a green flash. What was that?!
As Midori starting to get up, the green flash appeared again, this time stopping at her side.
"My apologies, miss!" a teenage boy in a familiar green jumpsuit apologized, helping her onto her feet. "I'm in a hurry!"
Lee! "It's okay," Midori said, staring at Lee with an instinctive smile on her face. "What were you doing?"
"My sensei, Gai-sensei always has my team and I doing a few laps around Konoha as a training exercise on weekends!" Lee explained, jogging in place. "I wanted to finish early so I could squeeze in some extra training! My teammates are not fart behind…I think! Now I must be off!"
"Wait!"
Lee stopped and turned around. "Yes?"
"Um…I just graduated and I don't have a sensei yet," Midori said, thinking quickly. "Would you mind if I…saw what your sensei is like? So I can be ready?"
Lee grinned widely. "But of course! Gai-sensei will be more than happy to aid another youthful student!"
Midori smiled.
"Come with me! I was on my last lap, so I will take you to our training spot!"
"Thank you," she said; happiness along with excitement in her eyes.
----------------
"Are you done yet?" Nami groaned. She was leaning against the wall of a store, boredom cursed her features.
"Oh…which one should I get, Nami?" Kyoko asked restlessly. "This katana or this mace?"
"Neither. They're way over our budget," Nami said impatiently. "Dude, we barely have enough to eat let alone buy useless things."
"Useless?!" Kyoko exclaimed angrily. "They aren't useless. And I have enough!"
"Well I'm not wasting my time here any longer," Nami said. "I've gotta go train."
"I'm not done!"
"You wouldn't be a challenge anyway!"
"How would you know? You've never fought yet!"
"Well my stats surpass yours!"
"They do not! You might have made yourself powerful, but you probably don't know how to control it!"
Nami stared at her with rage. "Oh yeah? Well I'll show you that you're dead wrong!" Nami stormed out of the store, slamming the door behind her.
Kyoko was silent, watching the back of her friend. She turned to the owner of the weapons shop and said, "Can you believe her? Who does she think she is?"
The man behind the counter just grinned a half-toothless grin and said, "Katana, or mace?"
"…"
----------------
"Gai-sensei! I have returned!" Lee called, running into his teams training spot. Midori appeared at a slow jog a few feet behind Lee.
POW!
"LEE! YOU IDIOT!"
"GAH!"
Midori ducked as Lee went flying over her head. Oh…my…
"Lee! I've kept track of your time and it seems that you've been slacking off!" Gai exclaimed, not noticing Midori in a hunched position. "You were FIFTEEN SECONDS SHORT!"
"Forgive me, sensei!" Lee begged, his cheek swelling up. "But on my run Iran into this girl and I had to apologize for knocking her down and—"
"Girl, you say?" Gai said, finally taking note of Midori's existence. He leaned down to meet her eyes.
Trying not to flinch from the sight of Gai's eyebrow-crowned stare, Midori stood straight.
Gai observed the girl, looking her up and down. "What's your name, little girl?"
"Hikari Midori, sir," Midori said quietly, a bit miffed that he had called her 'little'.
"I am Maito Gai!" Gai shouted, so loudly that Midori was blown back by the volume.
"…Pleasure to meet you, Gai-sensei," Midori said, sticking her finger in her ear.
"Oh! I forgot! My name is Rock Lee!" Lee introduced.
POW!
"ARGH!"
Lee flew past Midori once more. Okay, NOW she was scared.
"L-Lee…Are you okay?" Midori said with the tone that suggested that she wanted to help him up but thought that Gai would punch her as well for weakening the punishment or something.
"Lee, have you forgotten your manners?" Gai demanded, pointing a finger at his star student accusingly. "Did you forget to introduce yourself when you two met?"
"Forgive me, Gai-sensei! I am not worthy of your teachings!" Lee exclaimed sadly bowing his head.
"Oh Lee…you must have been so focused on continuing your training, it must have slipped your mind!" Gai said dramatically, tears running down his cheeks.
"Gai-sensei…you are too good to me…" Lee wailed.
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee threw himself into Gai's outstretched arms and an imaginary sunset appeared in the background. A wave crashed behind the two green-clad men.
And that was the first time Midori had seen a Lee/Gai Student/Teacher moment. Her eyebrow twitched, but she felt strangely warm inside. Ah…a teacher and his student…
She snapped out of her confused trance when she heard pounding footsteps coming from a not so far distance. There she saw the silhouette of Neji, then Tenten. The two were panting quietly when they got back to the site.
"Who are you?" Neji questioned suspiciously when he got within a few feet of Midori.
It's Neji, Midori thought. I can't believe it. Hyuuga Neji. Before Midori could answer, Gai released Lee and made a punch for Neji.
Neji dodged the blow as if he had done this many times before. "I thought I requested for you not to attempt to do that ever again," Neji said sharply to his sensei.
"I forgot," Gai said. "But you do deserve a punch! What an impolite way to greet a lady and you were also a few seconds short of your recent time!"
Neji just glared at his sensei. "So who is she, then?"
"I'll let her introduce herself!" Gai declared.
Midori had been spacing out slightly since she figured that listening to Gai. When she noticed everyone looking at her, she blinked and tried to backtrack. "Oh! Sorry. I'm Hikari Midori," Midori said, bowing her head, half for honor and half for embarrassment.
"Hikari Midori, huh?" Tenten smiled. She held her hand out. "My name's Tenten. Nice to meet you."
Midori smiled and took her hand.
"And my stiff white-eyed teammate is Hyuuga Neji," Tenten added, jabbing a thumb towards Neji who scoffed.
"I see," Midori said.
"So, there must be a reason why Lee decided to bring you here!" Gai chimed. "What's your business here?"
"I brought her to train with us!" Lee answered before Midori said a word. "She just became a genin it seems and she hasn't gotten a sensei yet and she wanted to start training, so I said that I would bring her to you!"
"Excellent idea, my student, and its true, I am pretty great," Gai said modestly (not).
"And just in time too! You may have missed the run, Midori, but we still have time to spar! So choose your opponent!" Gai said, gesturing towards his three first-rate students.
"Um…"
-------------------
Nami angrily pounded a punching bag. She had found the gym and had given anyone in her way a menacing glare. Punching the stuffing out of things was the only way she could control her anger at the moment. How DARE Kyoko question her power? PUNCH. And how DARE she act as though she knew her? PUNCH. And how DARE she make her wait for her to pick out her meaningless weaponry while she had better things to do like train? PUNCH.
The punching bag swung off its chain and flew across the room, hitting the wall with a loud THUMP.
Nami's fists, which were pulsing red, were now numb. Okay. Maybe it wasn't my best idea to go out on a punching bag… Her knuckles started to ache so she sat down, breathing noticeably. Her chest heaved up and down as she slumped back against a wall. Gotta get stronger…I'll show Kyoko!
"That wasn't a smart idea."
Nami looked up quickly to see…the last person she wanted to see. Her eyes narrowed. "What do you want?"
Uchiha Sasuke looked down at Nami with the most uninterested look on his face. "You're not the only one who goes to the gym and you're not the only one who'd like to use that punching bag."
Nami frowned. "I guess you're too much of a pansy to sling it back up yourself then?"
"Who do you think you are?" Sasuke said, annoyed. What kind of girl insulted him? THE Uchiha Sasuke. She must be an outsider, he considered. But she has a Konoha hitai-ate, though I don't remember ever seeing her in class… "Who are you?"
"The name's Kawa Nami, and don't forget it," Nami said, standing up. Then she remembered. I'm not supposed to know this jerk yet. "And you are?"
"Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke said without concern. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be training."
"Good luck with that," Nami said, pushing past him.
Sasuke looked after the girl as she disappeared behind the doors of the gym. One word was on his mind: Strange.
Later that night…
Kyoko sat on the small couch in the apartment, inspecting her new weapons. She had decided to go with senbon since both the katana and mace would've left her a few yen from flat broke. Besides, senbon was lighter and would fit in her holster. Kyoko glanced around, looking for a target she could practice on. Then she noticed the door. It was so nice and wooden…it would make a wonderful sound when the needles pelted against it.
Without another thought, she threw the senbon skillfully at the door. Unfortunately, the door was opening at the time.
"Look out!" Kyoko shrieked.
"Argh!" Nami fell to the ground, the needles barely missing her. She stood up angrily. "Hey! What's the big idea?! Do you want to kill me that much?!"
"Sorry! Sorry!" Kyoko said, waving her arms around wildly. "But you see, I was trying to aim for the door and you opened it and—"
"Well that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"
"Stupid, is it? Well now I wish that they hit you!"
"You wanna say that again?!"
At that moment, Midori walked through the door, extremely tired with scratches and bandages all over her body. Her sleepy eyes saw her two roommates quarrelling…again. She sighed heavily and slouched in a free chair. "What is it now?"
"Kyoko nearly killed me with her needles!"
"Nami can't sense anything!"
The girls started shouting at each other incomprehensively.
Midori closed her eyes and took a loud breath, startling the girls.
"Hey, what happened to you?" Kyoko finally asked.
"Yeah. You look like you've just been in a battle," Nami remarked.
"I trained with Team Gai today," Midori explained. "I had to spar with one of them. And…I chose Tenten…"
"That explains all the bandages," Nami said.
Midori groaned and slid off the chair, exhausted. "I should've chosen Lee…he doesn't use sharp, pointy weapons."
Hm...what a boring, fillery chapter...at least, in my eyes it is. Ah well. I never liked the second episode anyway! Well, tell me what you think! R&R please! The next chappie is coming soon enough!
-HM