Chapter 3
Midori went to her bedroom and changed out of her training clothes. She had never disobeyed Hokage-sama before, and she really didn't want to start. But Kakashi-sensei seemed so happy about it that she just couldn't say no. Plus she was curious as to what he wanted to tell her. So she went along with it. Going into her room she walked over to a small closet built into the far wall. She slid open the doors and looked for something to wear. The clothes she had on were covered in dirt and mud from the creek. And her shirt had a small bloodstain on the shoulder. She really didn't want to embarrass Kakashi-sensei with her messy appearance.
She reached into the closet and pulled out a mesh undershirt, a pair of black cargo shorts that she used on missions, and a red overcoat. She threw off her mud-covered shirt and it hit the floor tossing up dust. She pulled on the mesh undershirt over her black sports bra, and at the same time pulled off her current pair of torn shorts. She stood there for a moment, looking down at the scars up and down her legs. She never had to worry about people gasping at them, because she never really talked to anyone except Kakashi-sensei and Hokage-sama. She stared at them for a while, wondering if she should cover them. With a sigh she reached into her near by nightstand and pulled out a roll of bandages. Sitting on her bed she wrapped the bandage around her left leg, concealing her scars. She tied a tight knot at her thigh and then moved onto her other leg.
Much better She thought to herself. She continued to put her shorts on, and then her over coat. It was a long flowing over coat that came down to just below her knees. It had been found among her brother's possessions after the leaf and sand went searching through the wreckage. When they found it, it had a note attached saying:
"Midori,
When you get this your going to be at least 13. It was mine when I was young. And I thought you should have it. I know you've always liked it.
-Riuke"
She only wore it on special occasions, and she thought that today would probably fit the bill. She picked up what was left of the cotton bandages and placed them into her nightstand, when something shinny caught her eye. She reached in and pulled it out. Her eyes widened as she realized what it was. It was her brothers forehead protector. The red cloth was tattered from years of being in the nightstand. She stared at it. Held it tight in her hands.
"Hey Midori you coming?" Kakashi called from the other side of the door. She quickly snapped out of her deep thought and slid the forehead protector into her pocket.
"Yeah hold on I just have to brush my hair and I'll be right there." Midori yelled back at him. She grabbed a brush from off her nightstand and pulled off her own black forehead protector. She set it on her bed and pulled the brush through her hair. As she turned to walk out she threw the brush back on the bed and picked up her forehead protector.
Thrusting open the door with a loud bang, she ran down the small hallway. When she got to her kitchen Kakashi was no were to be found.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei where'd you go?" She called to the empty room. She scanned the small kitchen looking for any sign of Kakashi.
"Ya looking for me?" Kakashi exclaimed bursting through the window, scaring Midori half to death.
"My god Kakashi-sensei must you always scare me like that!" Midori yelled clutching her chest trying to still her racing heart beat. "You could have just waited here in the kitchen you know." She told him as she was getting up from the floor.
"I know I know but I just can't resist that look on your face when you get surprised." Kakashi laughed as he spoke. He walked over to her stretching his arm out to help her up. Grabbing his hand and bracing herself on the wall behind her she stood up.
"You're not going to be laughing when I have a heart attack you know." She glared at him with her ice blue eyes trying to burn a hole in his head.
"Oh come now your not going to have a heart attack and you know that. You're to young and in to good of shape to have one." He was really trying to be a smart ass now.
"Oh that's what you're saying now Kakashi-sensei, but you'd be surprised, with my luck I could drop dead right now." Kakashi didn't find the joke funny at all and just gave her a dirty look.
"Don't say that Midori." That was all he said as he stepped out up to the windowsill and onto the balcony of her apartment building. A look a shame came over her face as she watched him. She followed after him slowly, watching her feet.
"I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry." She said as she stepped out of the window. "I should watch what I—"
"Nah its okay Midori I shouldn't have freaked out on you. I'm the one who's sorry. Now would you like to go to lunch?" He asked as he balanced on the railing of the balcony. Midori nodded with a smile and stepped up right next to him. "Lets go!" Kakashi yelled as he bound off the railing and onto a nearby roof, Midori following obediently behind.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei you never did tell me were we're going for lunch?" Midori yelled as she tried to catch up to him.
"Hmm I'm not sure what do you want? How about we go get some ramen?" Midori had never actually had ramen before. She tried to eat just fruit and vegetables, but Kakashi-sensei always told her about it. And how his students and him would go and eat it all the time. So she thought it was worth a try.
"What ever you say Kakashi-sensei. " She followed behind him as fast as she could. He finally stopped on top of a small red roof; he was looking down at another building on the other side of the street. Midori stopped right next to him to see what exactly he was looking at. "Uh, Kakashi-sensei, is that where we're eating?" She asked pointing down at the small building just bellow them. Kakashi didn't answer he just kept staring at it. "Uh, Kakashi-sensei is—"
"Ya ready to eat?" Kakashi asked as he snapped out of his little trance. Midori nodded and they both jumped off the building. Landing softly on the ground below.
"What is this place Kakashi-sensei?" Midori was really nervous about this whole situation. She was actually trembling.
"This is Ichiraku Ramen. One of my students swears by the place." Kakashi explained as he pushed the fabric curtains out of his way, entering the ramen stand. Midori followed timidly behind.
"Oh Kakashi-sensei I thought you were going to go eat with a friend?" Midori's eyes widened to see 3 genin about her age. A girl with pink hair and vibrant green eyes, who was questioning Kakashi, a raven-haired boy, with eyes that were black as coal, and a dopy looking boy with blonde spiky hair.
"I still am having lunch with a friend, see I brought her with me." He said sitting down on a stool. Midori's nerves were going insane. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Kakashi motioned for to her sit down next to him. She shook off her nerves and sat down stiffly. The three genin just stared at her. Disecting her with there eyes. The blonde boy seemed to be the most curious. He watched her with one eyebrow raised as he slurped up huge gulps of ramen. He was also the first one to question Kakashi-sensei on who she was.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei, who's she? I thought you were visiting a friend not someone our age."
"I can have friends your age. What makes you think she's not older hmm?" The three looked at him puzzled, he hadn't answered any of their questions. He just turned them back on them. Midori just kept her head down looking at the pattern on the counter in front of her.
"Well Kakashi-sensei you could at least introduce us." The pink-haired girl stated as she looked pericely at Midori.
Kakashi let out a sigh and finally gave into their demands. "Fine everyone this is my daughter, Midori." Midori snapped her head around and looked at him amazed, with her eyes wide.
"Uh Kakashi-sensei no offence but she looks nothing like you." The blonde dopy looking boy said not taking his eyes off his big bowl of ramen.
"Well Naruto how do you know she doesn't look like her mother?" Midori began shaking again Naruto? What! Is Kakashi trying to get me in deep shit now! She thought to her self. She tried to get up and leave when she felt a hand on her arm. She turned around to see Kakashi's hand clutched around her wrist. She looked at him, more like stared at him. He hadn't stoped talking to the three genin. They were all asking him questions. All except, the raven hair boy in blue.
The pink haired girl got up from her stool and walked over to Midori reaching out a hand.
"Well nice to meet you Midori, my Names Sakura." Kakashi stared at the two. Midori looked over to him, knowing what could happen if she as much as touched the pink haired girl. Kakashi nodded in approval meaning that it was okay to touch her.
Midori reached out a trembling hand and shook hands with the girl. The girl had a nice smile, but seemed to be kind of played out. "N-nice to meet you." Midori studdered as she pulled her hand back, stuffing it into the pocket of her over coat.
"How come you never told us you were a father Kakashi?" The raven-haired boy finally spoke. He didn't look at Kakashi as he said it though. He just said it as if he was talking to everyone.
"Because you guys never asked."
"Well why didn't you say you were going to see your daughter when we asked you who you were going to have lunch with?" Kakashi shrugged. He then slipped a hand into the pocket of pants pulling out four pieces of paper.
" I was going to give these to you once we were back at the training grounds, but I guess now's a better time then any. The chunin exams are coming up, you all do know this right?" They all nodded at him "Well, if you're going to take it then you need to fill out this slip of paper." He handed on to each of them and then one to her.
"Um Kakashi-sensei, don't you need 3 gening people to take the chunin exams?" Midori asked in a quiet and shaky voice.
"That's what I needed to tell you." The three looked at the two of them puzzled.
"Wait how can you be a genin and not have a team?" Asked Naruto bluntly.
"Because she can that's why." Kakashi answered not even turning to look at the boy. "Anyways, Midori that's what I've been meaning to tell you. You have a team that you can take the exams with."
"What?!" Midori yelled as she burst out of her chair. Kakashi looked at her wide-eyed. And so did the other three. "What do you mean I have a team Kakashi-sensei?"
"You guys are determined not to let me finish aren't you? Now let me continue. There's two genin in the village that need a third teammate. Their both from different squads themselves."
"Hey are you talking about Kiba and Ino, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.
"Yes I am. Now if you want to take the exam then you're going to have to team up with them." Midori was fuming. She stomped out of the ramen stand and jumped up to the roof across the street. Running as fast as she could. Tears were streaming down her face.
How could he not tell me about this sooner? And how does he think I'm going to take an important test with a team that I not only don't know but, I cant even get near without fear of being thrown out of the village! She thought angrily. She was running in no particular direction, she just wanted to get away. She could see the edge of the forest coming close. She knew that if she went into the forest then Kakashi-sensei wouldn't find her. She just couldn't face him right now. She made it to the edge of the forest. She jumped to a branch then stopped. I cant beleave I just treated Kakashi-sensei so badly. She brought her hands up to her face and covered her eyes. I'm such a screw up. She sighed and leaped off of the tree and onto the ground. Walking slowly, she headed towards the kunai and shuriken training grounds. She shoved her hands in the pockets of her over coat, walking with her head down.
It was still early in the afternoon, but the sunlight was slowly disappearing. Storm clouds were steadily taking over the afternoon sky. Midori didn't notice any of this until heavy raindrops pelted her head. She kept walking. It's not like she could stop now, she was going to get drenched no matter where she was heading. Soon she could see the training grounds, now it was just a short walk over a small red bridge, and up a short flight of stairs.
It began to rain harder, the raindrops seemed to get bigger and bigger as she walked. Walking to a nearby tree she pulled off her brother's overcoat and slung it over a tiny branch, trying to keep it at least a little bit dry. Walking up to a training post and staring at it. The wooden stump had a red and white bull's eye painted on it. She stared at it, just watching it intensely, as if it was going to move. With a sigh she reached down to pull out a kunai from its holster, but all she found was her leg. All bandaged up. She thought for a minute about what she did with her kunai holster, when she remembered that she took it off so she could bandage up her leg.
"How stupid am I?" She whispered to herself. She had nothing better to do so she went and sat at the base of the training post. Pulling one knee up to her chest and resting her arm on it. Letting her head fall back against the post, she looked up at the sky, raindrops pounding her face. She could hear someone coming up the stairs and she turned to look at them. It was a boy, a tall brunette boy. He seemed vaguely familiar but she couldn't quite pin point were she knew him. He was wearing a grey winter coat, with what seemed to be a brown faux fur trim on the hood. She couldn't really make out his facial features to well from the rain. But as he got closer, she knew that she had met him before. She stopped staring at him and just looked down at her legs. Trying not to make it painfully ovious that she was curious about him. She watched him out of the corner of her eyes. Listening to his steps. She soon realized that he was walking right towards her.
She got nervous again, as he got closer and closer, but for some reason she didn't feel the need to run from him. Something about him made her body calm a bit. He didn't say a word to her, he just went and sat beside her, not even acknowledging her existence. He pulled his knees up to his chest and stared off into the distance.
"I feel like I know you." He said not even looking at her. "I don't remember were, or how, or even who you are but I do know that I've seen your face before. I saw you earlier at the ramen place with Naruto and the others. I also so you leave crying. You don't have to tell me what happened, I just want to know if you remember me or not." He spoke with a voice that she knew she heard before. But were was it. She couldn't remember. She tried hard to think of were she'd met him before, but nothing came to mind. She rolled her head so she was somewhat facing him.
"I don't know. I was thinking I've met you before, but… that's nearly imposable."
"Sorry I don't follow, but at least we're at an understanding that we've met before."
"Did you follow me from the ramen stand?"
"Nah, When I saw you burst out I was a little shocked, 'cause you nearly ran me over, but then Kakashi came out right after you and I stopped him. I asked him what that was all about and he kind of explained it, then told me were I could most likely find you."
"I still don't understand why you wanted to find me, yeah sure you kind of recognized me, but still why'd you want to find me?"
"I'm not sure why I wanted to find you, I just had an unexplainable attraction to you. I felt like I needed to talk to you for some reason. Maybe I've just gone crazy who knows." He let out a little laugh as he turned towards her.
"I don't think you've gone crazy, because I think the feelings mutual, I would have run if it were anyone else. I'm not one to talk to people, but for some reason, I didn't have the urge to get away. Maybe we both have lost our minds." He laughed again flashing a big smile at her. He got a really cute smile She thought to herself. Before she knew it she was smiling too.
"Well I guess if we're both crazy then its good we found each other huh?"
"Maybe we're completely sane, but it's the rest of the world that's crazy."
"Yeah I belive that one. Anyways, why were you crying earlier? I hope I'm not prying. I'm just curious."
"I don't know it's kind of complicated. I just over reacted on Kakashi-sensei. It was just, he told me something I wasn't completely ready for, so I kind of lost it."
"I've been there. So, we've been talking a while and I'm not sure I even asked your name. Mines Inuzuka Kiba." Kiba…That name sounds so familiar… She thought to herself.
"Ahh mines Stowia Midori." Neither of them said anything for quite sometime, they just kind of looked at one another, until the sound of thunder broke the silence. Midori looked up at the sky, watching the lightning dance across the sky. "Wow the weather's getting pretty bad."
"Yeah it is isn't it." Kiba replyed looking up at the sky right along with her. "Hey maybe we should go inside before it gets to bad. You want to come back to my place, I'll make some food and lend you a change of clothes?" He asked. Midori looked down at his hand and saw that he was shaking. She thought about it for a minute. Wondering what Kakashi-sensei would think, or more like what would Hokage-sama think. But she just shrugged it off.
"That would be nice." Kiba stood up and started walking. Midori walking right behind him.
