DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, any characters affiliated, healing jutsu, I still have to buy that forehead protector, and I do not have any latent aggression. (shifty eyes) ...REALLY...
Shino woke up the next day, and winced. It wasn't his body troubling him again, it was the memory of the night before.
Why did I go? So stupid...
The four friends had found Pooriin and Itachi, and were going to have their own congratulatory picnic in their training field. But after they had started, things had gone very, very wrong.
"Shino, are you ok?" Pooriin asked, looking concernedly at her friend.
Shino crouched on the ground, his right hand's fingers digging into his left arm, his left hand's fingers digging into the ground. He felt as if the bugs were trying to burrow new holes through his skin...but everywhere. Trying to get up made the matter worse; with a groan, Shino collapsed.
"Shino, why didn't you tell us you weren't feeling well?" Kiba asked, looking around the field for help.
"How long has he been like this?" Itachi asked Deniizu; both were standing apart from the others.
"As far as I know, all day," Deniizu answered.
The couple were staying out of the other four's way; Deniizu couldn't do anything of use, and Itachi didn't care. So long as Deniizu was alright, he was too.
Michiko activated her healing jutsu; a blue aura surrounded her hands. Kneeling beside Shino, Michiko managed to catch his eye. They kept eye-contact for all of three seconds, then Shino curled up in pain.
"Shino...Shino you have to tell me where the pain is coming from," Michiko said helplessly, holding her hands above his body, not sure what to do.
Shino groaned in pain again, but faintly whispered an order.
"What? What did you say?" Michiko asked, leaning forward to hear him better.
"Take...me home. Just...take me...home," he said faintly. And then there was blackness.
Fool. Goddamn fool, Shino thought, berating himself, Why did you go?
Getting up shakily, Shino stood up and dragged himself to the washroom. Looking at himself in the mirror, he looked normal. A little frazzled, but normal. Several bugs crawled out of one of the openings in the skin of his arms, running along his skin comfortingly.
"I know this is new," he whispered to the beetles, "It's new to me too. But we can adjust."
I just hope we adjust soon.
...Ok, so we can feel bad for Shino, or we can silently laugh...ehehe- I mean...
Michiko sat at her desk, playing with the one intricate braid that she had made with a forelock, leaving the rest of her hair loose. Then she tapped her feet to an irregular rhythm. Then she adjusted her new forehead protector which she kept around her neck. Then she drummed her fingers on the desktop, 'playing' imaginary piano scales. It was at the point where she kept spinning her pencil between her fingers that her friends lost their patience.
"Michiko..." Kiba said warningly.
"I swear, if you don't calm down..." Deniizu let her voice trail off menacingly.
"Michi-chan, I'm sure everything is all right," Hinata said softly, meaning both their new teachers coming, and what happened to Shino the night before.
"Easy for you to say; you weren't there," Michiko said, remembering how Shino had lost consciousness.
Hinata looked away. The shy girl sighed sadly; Michiko followed her gaze to where Naruto was sitting. He was by Sakura.
Of course, Michiko thought, getting up and sitting by Hinata, taking the seat Shino would be at.
"I wouldn't worry, if I were you," Michiko whispered to her friend, "She has no interest in him."
"But...if they're on the same team..." Hinata looked down and played with her fingers.
Michiko looked at the loud-mouthed boy on the other side of the room, and bit her lip. It was hard, knowing that her friend's fears would get worse, but being unable to stop it.
"He'll grow up and see that you're the better girl," Michiko said, smiling at Hinata, "You'll see."
Hinata gave a small smile back, but both their smiles faded in a moment. Deniizu took the chair beside Kiba, and shook her head.
"I feel bad for them, don't you?" Deniizu asked Kiba in a low voice.
"Naruto's an immature jerk, and Shino...he's Shino," Kiba nodded, also quietly.
As if on cue, Shino came through the door behind Shikamaru. Michiko got up to move, but there was no need; Shino sat apart from the rest of the genins.
What's wrong with him? Kiba, Hinata and Deniizu thought, seeing how he slumped that he wanted to be alone.
Why is he like that? Michiko thought, seeing how rigidly he was really sitting, Is he still hurting?
As Iruka-sensei entered the room, Michiko and the others turned their attention to the front of the class. Kiba saw in the corner of his eye how Shino glanced at Michiko; Deniizu caught a stray thought.
I hope I'm on your team...but I also hope I'm not, Shino thought.
What the hell is he going on about? Deniizu thought.
As Iruka read out the names for team 7 ("Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke."), Hinata slouched; Michiko reached out and gave her hand a squeeze. (A/N: This is not yuri! They're close friends!) Kiba smirked at team 10's turnout (Ino's going to have a lot of fun with Shikamaru and Chouji.), and at team 8's reading, Shino held his breath.
"Team 8," Iruka said, reading from his scroll, "Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba."
Shino let himself breathe normally again; he knew he'd be able to function normally with his team.
"You all must now wait here until your new teachers pick you up," Iruka announced, "Michiko, Deniizu, you two follow me."
As one, the two girls got up from their chairs. Deniizu nodded to her friends before walking down the aisle. Michiko smiled at Kiba and Hinata, and tried to catch Shino's eye, but the boy continued facing forward, as if she weren't there. Disappointedly, she followed Deniizu into the hallway. Iruka motioned for them to walk alongside him as he explained their situation.
"As you two are quite new here, and there are only two of you, I had a bit of trouble finding a suitable teacher for you," Iruka said, leading them towards the outside doors, "But I did manage to find one, and I think you will do well in this setting."
The special jounin pushed open the doors and waited for the girls to pass him before letting them swing shut. Michiko and Deniizu saw the two males before them and froze as Iruka continued, oblivious to their reactions.
"This is your new sensei, Satoki Inel, and your new teammate, Hyuuga Korii, of Team 13. Inel is one of the best teachers Konoha has, so no doubt you two will learn quickly. I'll leave you four now to get to know each other better."
With that, the jounin turned on his heel and walked away, leaving the four portal-users together.
Oh CRAP I'm caught skipping! Deniizu thought, her face showing her fears.
How...Michiko thought, then spoke her question out loud, "How are you two here?"
"That's what I'd like to know," Korii said, raising an eyebrow.
"It's good to see that you two are safe," Inel said, "But right now, let's go sit down somewhere where we can sort this out."
Remember, you'll eventually get caught if you skip school. May that be a lesson to you.
They were in Korii's home, calmly sitting around the lounge and figuring out what they were doing in Konoha. Korii had decided that since he had his friends here, it wouldn't be too bad to hang around and do missions. In fact, he was looking forward to the missions since he could vent his aggression on the enemy. Inel was perfectly happy with this dimension; he liked the idea of dangerous adventure with some street playing on the side.
"There's one more thing, Inel-sensei," Michiko said, testing out her music teacher's new title.
"Mm? What's that?" Inel asked, looking up from sipping his tea.
"It's about Deniizu and I skipping school. And Korii too, now."
"Ah. I can guess that. You want me to clean up your attendance now, don't you?" Inel asked.
Deniizu and Michiko nodded quickly.
"I see..."
Inel sipped his tea again, thinking carefully, then put his cup down and sat forward in his chair.
"I will make sure your attendance record is good on three conditions."
Deniizu, Michiko and Korii shared resigned looks and all three nodded again.
Inel raised one finger and continued.
"One: None of you can skip my class or rehearsal during the rest of the week."
Korii and Deniizu sighed as they nodded, while Michiko just grinned.
"Two:" Inel continued, raising another finger, "All three of you will make an effort to pass the rest of your classes."
Deniizu actually groaned and Korii winced as they nodded; Michiko tried not to laugh.
"And finally three:" Inel continued, "...You will take remedial between missions for all the classes you missed."
Deniizu looked close to crying and Korii looked like he tasted something extremely bitter as they nodded. Michiko nodded enthusiastically, giving her teacher two thumbs up.
"Then it's settled. Michelle, you can go do whatever you want for the rest of the day. Corey, Denise, go get a notebook so that we can work on theory."
Michiko laughed as she ran out of the house, followed closely by a grumbling Korii and Deniizu.
See, you can get punished for skipping classes! So don't skip!
"This is so not fair," Deniizu complained, looking for her bookbag in their apartment.
"How? It's your own faults for missing so many classes," Michiko grinned, helping Deniizu look.
"Shut up, bitch," Korii growled, also looking around the apartment, as someone knocked on the door.
Michiko chuckled as she went to get the door. Ignoring her friends' complaints as she opened the door, she saw Kiba and Shino, as well as the five dogs waiting outside.
"Hi, guys," Michiko greeted, letting them all in.
D'Artagnan sniffed Korii's feet as Aramis pawed at Michiko's legs to be picked up. Athos and Porthos barked and jumped around Korii, then Deniizu, then Michiko, then back to Korii, and Akamaru stood calmly beside Kiba and Shino, who were both still by the door.
"Um...Kiba, Shino, this is Korii," Michiko introduced, picking up the black puppy, "Korii's our new teammate, and one of Hinata's relatives. Korii, this is Kiba and Shino, two friends of ours."
"Hi," Kiba said, grinning at the 16-year-old boy.
"Hey," Korii said, nodding to Kiba and Shino.
"Pooriin is on her way," Shino said, as the five dogs started a game of tag in the room.
"Pooriin is another friend," Deniizu explained to Korii.
"I see," the white-eyed boy said, nodding.
"Oh, do you want to see our balcony?" Michiko asked, already walking towards it.
"They have a pretty good view," Pooriin said breathlessly at the doorway, managing to just catch up to the boys.
The pony-tailed girl hurried forward, with her hand outstretched.
"Hi, I'm Pooriin," she said, shaking Korii's hand.
"Hey," Korii said again, then turned at a sound on the balcony.
"Porthos!" Michiko was yelling.
Pooriin and the three boys saw Michiko fall off the balcony, after tripping over the above mentioned dog. Deniizu jumped after her to catch her, but ended up toppling over the edge.
"Whoa!" Kiba yelled, jumping after Deniizu and just managing to grab her ankle, "A little help, Shino? Korii?"
Korii and Shino both tried to get through the balcony doors at the same time, and ended up getting stuck and looking quite undignified, trapping Pooriin inside, and the dogs on the balcony, all five of which were still running around barking. Kiba tried to hold onto Deniizu, who held onto Michiko's ankles. Just as Korii managed to get through the doors, Akamaru, who thought this all was just a game, jumped at Kiba and bit his ear. With a yelp, Kiba instinctively let go of Deniizu, which caused both of the girls to free fall. Korii ran to the balcony edge and looked down, a split second before Shino.
"FUCK!" Korii yelled, watching helplessly with the other three as the girls kept falling.
No-one survives a fifth-story fall. No-one, Shino thought, feeling so useless.
Then, to their surprise, just as the girls would have hit the ground, they disappeared.
"...the hell!" Kiba exclaimed, as Shino froze.
"...Pauline?" Korii said softly.
The girl looked up at hearing her real name with shock, then it registered.
"You came through the greenhouse too?" she asked.
"Yeah. Michelle told me about you; you're her favourite cousin."
"Really?" Pauline grinned, then she became serious, "What do we do now?"
Corey thought for a moment before answering.
"We can't screw up the time difference with some of us entering or leaving the world at different times. You get back to the greenhouse and stop them from leaving it. I'll find my teacher; he's used the portal too."
"Got it," Pauline nodded, and Corey left the apartment, closely followed by Shino.
Pauline looked down before throwing herself off the balcony.
"Whoa, hold it!" Kiba exclaimed, catching Pauline's ankles, "What is going on?"
"Kiba, just trust me," Pauline said calmly, smiling at her boyfriend, "I'll be fine."
Kiba looked at her and saw that she was serious and perfectly sane.
"You'll disappear too?" Kiba asked, and Pauline nodded, "...You'd better be right, or I'll never forgive you."
With that he let her drop.
"Thanks, Kiba!" Pauline called, and then she was gone too.
I wish I could survive a fifth-story fall...
"Where are you going?" Shino asked, sticking to Korii like a burr, "What's this about greenhouses and portals?"
They had walked down six streets now, and still the older boy hadn't answered.
"Korii, what's going on? Where's Michiko? ...And Deniizu," he added as an afterthought.
That stopped Korii; turning, white eyes met black sunglasses.
"We're from another world. Michiko's from another world. Remember that, Shino."
With that, Korii ran to find his teacher, leaving Shino stunned.
Oo, did that sound dramatic? "White eyes met black sunglasses." ...ooo...
"Shit, shit, shit," Denise muttered, hitting the ground with her fists.
"You know, that isn't going to help," Michelle said, sitting in one of the greenhouse treebranches.
According to her watch, it was still just past 2:30, meaning that they had another half hour until they needed to go to their hotel.
"They saw us fall, Michelle. This could screw up a lot of stuff," Denise said, still punching the ground.
"I know, Denise," Michelle said, annoyed, "I just hope Pauline and Corey do the right thing and come right away."
"You talk about me behind my back?" Pauline asked, suddenly on a neighbouring branch.
"Whoa! Dude!" Michelle exclaimed, almost falling off her own branch.
"Wow. You really snuck up on us there," Denise said, looking up at her friend, "That's the first time any of us have seen someone arrive."
"You just appeared," Michelle said, a little stunned.
"Korii and your teacher will be here in a sec," Pauline said.
"It's Corey," the latter said, appearing at a higher branch.
"And I'm Ionel," the man said, from a branch beside Corey.
"Hi," Pauline and Michelle said, waving.
"So now what?" Denise said, sitting crosslegged on the floor.
Corey jumped down and Ionel carefully lowered himself before saying something.
"So now we wait until next week, and then we'll find out what happened while we were gone after your friends saw you disappear. This has never happened before, right?" Ionel asked.
"Right," the three girls chorused.
"...So we just wait," Corey said, "Great. I love waiting."
"Oh no!" Ionel slapped his forehead, "We've been away from the rest of the music people for how long?"
"It's just ten to 3 o'clock," Michelle said, dropping lightly from the tree, "We could've stayed longer in Konoha."
"You students could have, I need to be taking care of things with Stan!" Ionel exclaimed, already leaving the greenhouse.
"He seems stressed," Corey said dryly.
"Whatever," Denise shrugged, "You guys want to go look around Chinatown?"
A/N: Another short chapter...ih. You still have to post a review. (points) REVIEW!