Ino Yamanaka. That's this lady's name. This blonde lady with round, blue, pupil less eyes. She is completely overwhelmed in purple- that's the only color she's wearing.
"Hello?" her sing-song voice finally reached me. " Do you know what I'm saying- do you understand?"
I just nod- I'm too mind-boggled to think. Magically learning a language overnight doesn't ride well with me. No, she's not the one speaking English; well I'm speaking her tongue try my best to explain this as best as I can, but I'm not too sure how attack it considering I'm still processing this... I'm in Spanish class, and Ms. Elizalde is asking me a question in Spanish in which I must also answer in Spanish. This, this second language barrier (well Spanish is my third, but you get it) is just uber annoying because I really don't like taking the time to process everything. I mean do I really have that time right now? I gotta get home- to my family- and just get on with my life. I wanna live as best I can.
Back to the bigger picture:
"Excellent." I looked at her and she was smiling, really proud of herself. Did I do that? "I still can't believe my new jutsu worked properly on so many people." Probably.
"People?" I tested in her tongue. Frowning at the foreign taste, my mouth slightly hung ajar for it just felt too damn natural. How can something be so natural, and completely unknown is beyond me.
"Yes people. Those kids who were with you are now speaking to a village official as well as my teammate."
"Village?" I whispered. This is a village? It's ginormous!
She sighed. "We're at a port village in the Land of Tea."
"The Land of Tea?"
"Yes."
"Never heard of it."
Another sigh. "I know." I gaped at her. How the hell would she know? Did she talk to my friends/ acquaintances? Must have. "I know this is a lot to take in, but I have to tell you you're not at home anymore," Really? "and the world you're accustomed to isn't the one you're sitting in now- my world. I can't really explain everything to you right now, but I promise you'll be filled in later."
I took a moment to process. "Where are they?" My eyes never left her, and I locked my jaw.
"I already told you."
"No, um, I want to see them- the people I'm 'accustomed' to."
The lady just looked at me. What was her name again? Eh, I'll ask her later. I bet she thinks I'm too calm for this madness. Well lady, you'll get your desired reaction soon enough- truth is, I'm bet I'm dreaming. Well I hope I am. When I realize this crap is real, that's when shit will go down. If, I don't wake up, that is. Remember that if. I mean for all I know, I could've hit my head real hard on that bus seat.
"When can I see them?" I repeated.
"Why'd you pull out your IV?" Nice job changing subject.
"Why won't you let me see a familiar face?"
She groaned and broke eye contact. Ha, I won. "Are all of you this difficult?" I just shrugged. "Well did you at least take your medicine?" She pointed behind me at the box of meds sitting on the night stand. I swiveled over and picked it up. All I got out of the medical mumbo jumbo was that it was for muscle pain. The fuck? When did the scribbles turn ledgible? I scanned it further. Some of the words look familiar; I just don't know what it says.
Experimenting, I rolled my shoulder. A little tight, but that's about it. No pain whatsoever. That's whats up. I smiled.
"It shouldn't hurt- you've been on that for 2 days now."
I twisted myself to face her. "2 days?"
She nodded. "My teammate came yesterday to decipher why we couldn't communicate. He came to the conclusion that it was some subconscious issue, so he sent for me. I arrived this morning."
Another moment proessing. "What's your name again?"
"Ino."
"Well then Ino," she made a face, "may I meet your comrade?"
She got up off the floor, damn her hair's long, and I proceeded to follow her out the door. Ino led me through a hallway which led to another hallway then finally a big room I presumed the lobby.
"Um, Ino?" I whispered.
She stopped walking and turned to face me. "Yes?"
I hesitated, "Do you not want me to call you by your name?"
"What? Why wouldn't you call me by my name?"
My gaze suddenly found the floor interesting and I pretended I was standing in dirt and proceeded to play with said dirt with my still bare feet. "Well you made a face when I addressed you that way."
No sound. I sneaked a look up and she was standing in front of me. "April- san," How the fuck does she know my real name? No one's called me that since the first day of school. I mean seriously, what kind of parents think it'd be nice to name their child after a month? Just so original. "You know about honorifics, right?"
"Yeah, but oh."
"It's ok, you didn't know we used them. Come on" She grabbed my arm and pulled me through the doors of the lobby. I tried my best to stop. "Ino, um Ino- san?"
She stopped. "Yes?"
"Call me Jo."
"Jo-san."
"You don't need the honorifics- they don't mean anything to me." I began to ponder if I was really in Asia when she looked at me. How many blonde, blue-eyed girls were there? I took a quick look around, and saw none. As I did, Ino just looked at- wondering if she should comply with my wishes.
"Is there anything else?"
"No, there isn't." She opened her mouth to say something, but I cut her off. "I was wondering if I could find a way out of those honorifics." I smiled sheepishly.
"But you know how to use them."
"Yeah, but knowing me, I'll continuously forget about them and then just eventually pis you off." She laughed. "Ino-san, can we be friends enough for me not to add the 'san'?"
She chuckled again. "Alright Ap-" I gave her a look, "Jo. If you could follow me, I believe you have someone to meet.
"That I do."
The town (village) was enormous! People were everywhere: walking in and out of buildings, talking to one another and/or buying from the market (or bartering, I'm not sure what consumers do). For some unknown reason, all the roads were unpaved and not a car was in sight. I felt like I was in an Amish community.
Everyone was openly staring and I began to twirl a strand of my hair while kicking a rock that was sitting peacefully on the road. Ino was now walking by my side and providing small talk. Actually, I should rephrase that: Ino was talking and I was every once in a while providing my 2 cents about it. Thanks God for her, or else I'd be eaten alive by all these people along this dirt road. I mean seriously, I know I'm dressed differently but still, it's closer to what they're wearing (or maybe just Ino's attire) than my original get-up consisting of jeans which no soul seemed to be wearing.
Suddenly, I feel Ino grabbing at my arm; pulling me back. "Jo," she nags, "are you paying attention?"
"Sorry."
She sighed. "It's alright. We're here." Bless this girl, I must've been giving her one hell of a migraine. I feel like such a child- needing all this help; it's annoying.
I was facing a building. Not really planning on describing it- it's the standard couple story house I see every day. And if you absolutely need a description, just look out a window, and there you go. Sorry, just do remember I recently woke up from a 2 day sleep.
Moving on... Ino opens the door and pulls me through. My face flushes when I see all the eyes lock onto mine, but I stop torturing my hair when I realize a large majority of them are familiar. I thank God once more.
"Holy shit Jo! You're awake!" Issac nearly tackles me,
"Hey!" Ino warns and thus saving me from toppling over. "Stop that." She pinched him, and he backed off. "You do realize she woke up not too long ago right? She's still weak."
Issac pouts and hugs me more gently this time.
"Babe, don't lose any more blood, it's important," Kim lectured.
I chuckled. "Yes mother."
"I didn't think you'd ever have the balls to do that," she told me.
"Me neither." I paused. "But you know me, I'm a selfish giver."
"Yes, but don't torture your body just for everyone else you hear. Remember your own life."
"Yeah yeah."
"Thanks though," Did Jenny just thank me? "If you hadn't done that, we would still be seen as a threat." Wow, never in my days did I think she'd praise me. "But never do it again, Kim's right, that was reckless." Never mind.
"Will you be ok?" Kevin asks.
I nod- Kim's currently squeezing the breath out of me and Issac's sitting there pouting- wishing she'd get pinched. I notice with a frown Ino's escaped the room.
"Kim," I breathed out.
"Oh my gosh, sorry!" She let go and smiled sheepishly.
"It's all good. The meds here are amazing."
Someone cleared their throat and all eyes were instantly directed towards the center of the room. A man with jet black hair that was up in a pony tail seemed to be the cause. He was wearing a green leather jacket that reminded me of the bus driver's with a black, long sleeved undershirt and capris and sandals. He looks to be around Ino's age; he's standing next to her in fact.
"Alright everyone, the village official and I have finished deliberating," he sounds like he's in jury duty, "and have decided it'd be best to take you to our country."
"How many of us are going?" Sam asked, scaring the shit out of me. I hear him suck his lip and I a glance back to see him smiling at the sneak attack. I narrow my eyes and his smile widens.
"All of you." I gaped at the man. Well at least we're not separated.
"Wait, what?!" Jenny's eyes look like they'll pop out of their sockets.
He sighed. "All of you are going. The hokage would like to meet you as well as perform some tests."
Jenny crossed her arms. "What kind of tests."
If I were him, I would have groaned- props for his composure. "The kind with results." I had to seriously force myself to hide a snicker, but Sam didn't care as much as I did and received a glare from Jenny. I look up and see the man's looking at me. Me not Sam, I'm sure of it. Oops, I guess I didn't try hard enough. This
Kevin was like, "I'd like to know what's being done to my body too."
The man groaned again. "Ino." She sighed. I bet she thinks we're all difficult like this... Nope, that's just me and Jenny. I smiled.
"We want to look at your chakra and explore your culture."
"Our chakra. What's that?" Zack's eyebrow now raised.
"It's your life force; none of you responded to our usual medicine which involves it."
"But Ino," I started, "We're all very much alive; you can see that."
She took a moment to come up with a good answer: "Jo, I know, that's why we want the tests."
I processed for a moment. Once finished, I raised my eyebrows. Letting out a breath that reached my Dora-like bangs I looked around. Most looked worried. Others like Kevin and Jenny seemed curious about the results. Sam was just plain amused.
"What happens after?" Mou asked, a finger on his chin.
Ino and the man just stood there- at a loss for words.
"We'll just have to see what happens now won't we?" Issac broke the silence.
Sam let loose a chuckle and as he did the man next to Ino let out a sigh. "The hokage will figure everything out," Mr. Pony tail said.
"Um, what's a hokage?" Kevin asked. Seems like no one heard him because he didn't get an answer. Well it's understandable considering the room was surrounded by chatter.
"Everyone!" Mr. Pony tail demanded attention, "get ready to leave- we'll be going soon."
yeah, this one's like half the size of the last one, sorry :(
tell me what you think :)
