With a rather large thud, I knocked my forehead against the desk in front of me, beginning my daytime nap early. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before so the nap was even more inevitable. I had been plagued with nightmares of a place that seemed familiar yet I had never seen before.

Feeling stares at my back, I swiveled my head around to two sets of eyes, one on the other side of the room, one just outside the door, both of whom I didn't want to talk to. The first set decided to make her move and approach Mai and me with a new found bubbly confidence.

"Kyoko! Hey!" Sakura's voice echoed across the classroom as I glared at her. As she threatened to come forward even more, both Mai and I gave her dark looks. Sakura hesitated as she approached but continued indefinitely before sitting in the seat in front of me and spinning around. She waited expectantly for me to respond with my own joyful greeting which she should have known wasn't going to happen. When she realized this, she continued as if I had greeted her. "So I heard that you have training with Sasuke-kun every night, Kyoko." I only grumbled at her remark and Mai was glowering at the pink haired kunoichi.

"Go away," Mai muttered, flicking her senbon between her fingers. More people entered the classroom and Mai's gaze turned to the entering student. Hiro's already unwavering gaze on Mai changed to a scowl, returning the dark glare he gave her. Sakura was about to begin talking again but I didn't want to hear anymore. Then I was saved. Somewhat.

"SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura squealed as the Uchiha entered the room. Sasuke stood next to my desk in silence and ignored the giggling pinkette, his glare switching between Mai and me.

"What the fuck do you want, Uchiha?" At first, he was silent.

"I have a first name," he corrected me after a hesitation.

"Good for you. And that would be your last name," I stated blandly as Sasuke's glare darkened. "Back off," I hissed.

"Or what, bitch?"

"How about you say that to my face, coward?" I now rose to my feet, my fist clenched on the desktop. Sasuke turned back around to come face to face with me so that we were at the same eye level. Uchiha repeated the remark, slowly lengthening out each syllable as if I hadn't understood.

"Or what?" My anger flared up and got the better of me, as it usually did.

"I'll kick your ass." The Raven haired boy scoffed at my comment which only made my blood come to a simmer.

"You wish you could, Tanaka."

"You know I could, dipshit." Mai was next to me as we stared each other down.

"Bitch."

That was it.

So I jumped at Uchiha and my fist landed on its target: his face. He stumbled back a step before attacking me just as violently, his fist making contact with my cheek. The whole class was watching in awe as we fought, none of them trying to stop us. His fangirls were cheering on their precious Sasuke as more attacks were thrown. I tackled Uchiha to the ground trying to get the upper hand only to be flipped and pinned to the floor. Pushing up, I was now in control of the fight until a pair of arms wound about my waist and hoisted me off Uchiha. I was now struggling in Mizuki's grasp as Sasuke was thrashing in Iruka's, both of us scowling at the other.

"BOTH OF YOU! CUT IT OUT!" Iruka was yelling and his voice reverberated throughout the classroom and any eyes that weren't already on us were now paying full attention. Blood was smeared down my cheek, dripping onto the wood floor. Mizuki pushed me forcibly into my seat where I stayed, my enraged glower still trained on Uchiha. He only glared back, the same amount of hatred conveyed in the onyx pupils. Obviously, his original reason for approaching me was now forgotten.

With the excitement of the morning over, the anxiety of the day took its place. A restless aura filled the room as if everyone was holding their breath to see who Iruka had put together as three man teams. Mai and I shared a quick glance as Iruka shuffled pages around on his desk.

"Here are your teams. After all of you are split, you will wait here for your team leader to give you your first training assignment." Iruka's gaze traveled across the room, falling on each student for only a second.

"Team 7: Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto." I punched the air in triumph as my joy overflowed. Sakura was almost squealing with delight as Naruto sent a glare at Sasuke. Sasuke just looked completely pissed with both of his new teammates. Iruka continued, "Team 8, Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba." Shino and Kiba seemed very nonchalant about their team but I knew Hinata was upset that she wasn't with Naruto. Iruka announced the next team, "Team 10, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji." Ino sighed loudly. Shikamaru smirked, and Choji continued, well he didn't ever stop, eating so I didn't expect him to now. Iruka announced, "Team 11, Tanaka Kyoko, Saito Mai, and Kimura Hiro." Mai's mouth dropped just as far as mine, if not further.

"What?" Everyone's eyes turned to the outburst. "Iruka, I will not be on a team with that bastard Kimura!" Mai was crying out in anger, her venomous gaze fixed upon the very person she was speaking of. I heard someone mutter an ouch but she continued where she had left off, "Isn't there anyone else to be on our team!" Hiro glared back at her and then sent a fierce glance at me which I only happily returned. Iruka shook his head,

"No, these teams are final. Now sit down, both of you." He slammed his hand on the desk to add emphasis to his word and I grudgingly complied, crossing my arms in the process. Mai stayed standing, her fists balled at her side and the senbon stuck hatefully back up into her hair. Her bright azure eyes were sparkling with animosity which was only met with the same amount of hatred from Hiro's bronze eyes.

She eventually parked herself back into her seat, pushing back up onto two legs to try and pent out some anger by focusing on not losing her balance. The whole room seemed to relax now as the anticipation of knowing who was on what team with who dissipated.

We all sat back, relaxing as the noise and everyday chatter grew in the small classroom. Mai, drowning in her own animosity, kept her mouth shut and I let her be to calm down. I leaned back in my seat and tapped my foot lightly to an imaginary beat as we waited. I watched the classroom with faint interest, Mai now returning to twiddling the senbon and pricking herself in the process. A low string of profanities came from her mouth as she wiped the blood on her leg.

Slowly, teams trickled their way from the room, following their senseis like ducklings following the mother duck. My patience was starting to slip through my fingers as we waited, and waited and waited. Finally the door slid open; a woman walked in.

"Team 11? Is this the right room?"

"Yeah, that would be us," Mai still seemed pretty pissed as she pented some of her anger at the innocent sensei. The woman looked us over and said,

"Well come on then. Time's wasting." The woman turned on her heel, disappearing from our sight quickly as she expected us to follow. We rushed out of the Academy, searching for the sensei as we went to find she had already started on her way. We followed the beacon of silver hair as it darted here and there ahead of us, disappearing from our vision only to resurface seconds later.

When the woman stopped, we were in the park and not one word had passed between the four of us. Our sensei leaned against one of the light posts and I parked myself on a bench. Mai sat next to me as Hiro sat on the backrest with his feet on the seat on the other side of Mai. The woman took our appearances in slowly, allowing her gaze to stop at each of us for a good period of time.

"Ok, so tell me something about yourselves. You there, brunette, you start," the woman sent her a dazzling smile, her dark eyes flashing. Mai glanced up at her from the senbon in her hand.

"My name is Mai Saito," she informed.

"Saito as in the senbon wielders?" Mai nodded a yes. Sensei scrutinized her once more before she pointed to Hiro.

"Hiro Kimura," Hiro told her. Sensei again, scrutinized Hiro over individually as if looking for some sort of change in the last couple seconds. Then she pointed to me.

"I'm Kyoko Tanaka."

"Are you going to tell us who you are?" Hiro asked curiously, the silence between us becoming slightly irritating. Sensei was silent for another minute.

"I am Rika Hatake," she told us curtly. Rika didn't continue so Mai asked,

"Are we going to train today or do we have the afternoon off?" Rika smiled. Or what I guessed was a smile. More like an evil smirk because her eyes were now flashing as though there was some inside joke behind what Mai had asked.

"We'll start today. Meet me at the training fields in an hour," she ordered. We nodded and Mai smirked. I looked at her curiously as she stared off into space and just smirked. Then, she shot her arm up in the air. At first I didn't know what she had done but then I noticed that Hiro was now on the ground, glowering at her. She had thrown him off the bench.

Mai walked away as if nothing had happened and Hiro slowly returned to his feet. I chuckled under my breath as he sent a glare my way. I only too graciously returned the glower, still laughing.