2. Love Will Find a Way:
The next day started off normally enough. Rin noticed no change in her appearance. That was good. Hopefully it was still tomorrow and not next week. Yesterday's occurrences still stuck in her mind, she hoped it didn't happen again. Good sign, there was no ringing in her ears. The broken iPod dropped from her pocket onto the floor. She stared at it bitterly.
"I wasted my points on this..." She nudged it away from the bed, lining it up with a gap and kicked it. The technology skidded across the floor, bouncing off the wall and disappearing somewhere. Rin didn't care. Opening her door, she nearly knocked into Naruto, who was poised to knock on the door. She stumbled but caught herself, Naruto stepped back.
"Hime.. I didn't expect you to be up," he said, "You left before Sensei gave us more information about the... training." He yawned, "I guess that trick of yours comes in handy."
"I guess it does," replied Rin, locking her door. Naruto trudged along beside her, his eyes barely open. He looked at her through his tired eyes, "How are you awake? It's like 4:30..."
"I'm not as awake as you think," she replied, the yawn being infectious, "I just happened to have tea with my breakfast this morning." The rest of the walk was in tired silence until they reached the training ground where Sakura greeted them with a tired 'Mornin''. Naruto returned it with an 'ah...' and a yawn. Knowing that Kakashi wouldn't be there until around 10am, Rin sat under a tree and had a powernap. Her team mates gave her a look.
"Rin-chan... I don't think you should sleep while we wait," yawned Naruto, "That sensei will be here soon."
"Wake me up when he gets here," replied Rin, closing her eyes.
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When Rin got up, she had been awake for a few hours, only having slept for one of the hours the group was waiting, she saw Kakashi still hadn't arrived. Sakura and Naruto were pretty much asleep on their feet, Sasuke was leaning against a tree, eyes closed. He was probably napping too. Rin got up and stretched, cramped from her uncomfortable nap. She felt strangely spry. The group had to wait about another hour before their teacher showed up, greeted with the familiar "YOU'RE LATE!" from Naruto and Sakura, followed by the non-believable excuse from Kakashi. After getting the annoyance out of their systems, they followed their teacher to the open training grounds, stopping at the 3 logs. A clock was placed upon the top of the middle one, alarm set for 12pm.
"Your task today is to take these bells from me," he said, dangling 3 small bells before them, "You don't get one, you don't get lunch. When I say start, come at me as you will."
"But there's only 3 bells sensei," voiced Sakura, "Does that mean one of us definitely fails?"
'Well duh, way to state the obvious stupid, It's a teamwork test...' thought Rin, ' huh? Where'd that come from? That was weird...' Rin grumbled to herself, going unnoticed as Naruto decided to attack Kakashi.
"I haven't said start yet," sighed Kakashi cooly, "But you came at me with real killer intent, that's a start. I may be beginning to like you after all." He let Naruto go, walking away, "Now.. start!"
Rin turned on her heel and leapt away, double-taking at her speed when she stopped behind a tree. 'What the hell was that? Was that speed a normal ninja thing or not?' She listened out for what happened in the episode. She smirked and jumped up into the tree, hiding on some of the thicker, more covered branches. 'That was fun.' From her perch she could see Naruto facing off with Kakashi, before getting blasted into the lake by the special technique. She couldn't help but laugh, that got her every time. A storm of shuriken flew at Kakashi, hitting him in the back but in a puff of smoke, a log stood in his place. She knew what would happen next with the rest of them, but what was her move going to be? Was she going to try get a bell? Would she try to get them to work as a team? She thought back to her earlier Sakura-bashing thought. Or maybe she the character that yelled at all of them when they'd all been gathered, telling them the true meaning of the test before going off and making clones to make it look like they worked as a team? Rin leaned back into the tree trunk and felt an object clatter against her back. Reaching to it she found that it was some sort of sword.
"Okay what the hell... the fuck is going on today?" Naruto's scream echoed over the field. She looked to see Naruto dangling by his ankle from a tree, swaying back and forth, and contemplated helping him down. Soon another scream pierced through the air, Sakura. "May as well use this to my advantage." Rin left her tree and made her way to Naruto, not particularly caring if she was seen.
"Rin-chan! You have to go hide," called Naruto from his leash.
Rin looked up at him, "You don't want me to help you down?"
The blonde grinned, "I'll be fine, worry about yourself. That guy is a tricky one. But I must've got the better of him coz look..." he pointed to the ground at the small bell glinting in the light, "He dropped that."
"Hold you horses for a sec Naruto-san," said Rin, picking up a rock. She threw it on the ground near the bell and another rope shot up out of the ground, hitting Naruto in the face. Just in case, Rin threw another rock near the bell but nothing happened. That was good. "Can I have the bell?"
"Well done for seeing through that trap," replied Kakashi, appearing in front of her, "Though whether you can have the bell's not up to me."
"A ninja needs to read underneath the underneath... or something," said Rin, "May I please have the bell?"
'There's no way that'd work...' thought Naruto, his thoughts also mirrored by Sasuke who had found a new hiding place, waiting for his chance to attack.
"Please, help yourself," replied Kakashi, his eye happy. Rin stepped in to pick up the bell, Kakashi not stepping in to stop her.
Naruto's eye twitched, "NO WAY! HOW DID..?!"
'What kind of jutsu is that?' wondered Sasuke, with a glare.
"Kakashi-sensei," said Rin, "Can I have the other 2 bells?" Naruto froze in shock, 'No way...' Kakashi began to chuckle, his left hand moving to the two bells on his belt.
'NO WAY?!' thought Naruto, his heart pounding, 'He's actually gonna do it!'
At the last second, his hand went to his back pouch and pulled out his novel, "Sorry Rin-kun, I can't do that."
"I thought not... in that case you can have this one back too," replied Rin, tossing him the bell, "Just having that wouldn't let me pass anyway would it." She left the pitch without another word, Naruto watched her gobsmacked when he suddenly found himself falling to the ground. He cried out, spinning to try land on his feet, which he barely accomplished, landing hard on one foot. "What was that for Hime?!"
'So it hit?' thought Rin, as she made her way to Sakura, 'I guess I'm one of those smartarse ninja's...' Naruto's cry broke though the air again, screaming something about getting trapped again. Rin sighed, so much for helping him. She guessed Sasuke would be fighting Kakashi now which meant that he'd be buried soon so she'd have to find Sakura quickly. Rin heard a faint ringing sound, like white noise. She noticed that her clothes changed, now wearing an outfit like Sakura's shippuden costume, but with a white bell sleeved top and no elbow pads. Taking a look at her hair, she found it was still long but now a black purple. "Well isn't that nice..." She soon came upon Sakura, who was unconscious on the grass, her face blushed red. Rin released the pink haired girl from the genjutsu. Sakura wasn't happy that it was her that had helped her, but went along with Rin anyway at the mention of Sasuke. Though Sakura hadn't said anything, Rin found herself annoyed just by her presence. She was getting sick of it, the feeling not Sakura, though Sakura's scream at Sasuke's head in the ground did make her want to punch her out. That was her feeling, not influenced by the other feeling that hung around in her head that she had dubbed 'Inner Sakura-hater'.
Sasuke stared at her, "Are you going to help me out of here?"
"Oh, you actually want my help?" jested Rin, "I thought you were 'different than the others'... isn't that what you said?" She squatted in front of him, taking out a pair of chopsticks, "Here, use these." Sasuke glared at her. "Relax, I was kidding. The ground's pretty compacted..." She unsheathed her sword, standing and studying the ground before plunging her katana down. Sakura screamed again, apparently thinking Sasuke's head was going to be cut off. She passed out again. Rin raised her sword, "Hold still." Sasuke flinched as she plunged it into the dirt in front of his face, twisting it around to create a hole, then cutting across the ground and making another hole before pulling it out and returning it to it's sheath. She put her hands in the holes, reaching for Sasuke's. "Ready? Pull." Sasuke was pulled out to his waist, Rin dropped to the ground beside him, wiping the dirt from her legs as she stood. She offered him a hand to help him up, but he ignored it. Rin shrugged and walked off. That was when Sakura decided to wake up, hugging Sasuke tightly, crying how glad she was Rin hadn't killed him.
Making her way back to the stumps, she sat next to the tied up Naruto who looked at her disbelievingly. "Hime... you had the bell in your hand... you would have passed," he sobbed, "Why did you give it up?"
"Getting a bell wasn't the point," replied Rin, taking a bentou, "How stingy.. there's no toppings in here." The alarm went off, signalling the end of the test, but the ringing kept going in Rin's ears. She knew what was coming next. This time it was just a fast forward, as she found herself face to face with Kakashi, they were alone.
"How are you finding being with people your own age, Rin-kun?" he asked, "You seemed to be having fun today."
"It was different," she replied vaguely, trying to gauge her situation. So this time she was a girl that had already graduated and was now going back the academy for some reason. But what else was there? Surely there was some romantic interest.
"I'm surprised you've managed to keep your secret from Naruto all these years," continued Kakashi, "Even keeping your grades down to match his... You're with him every other day. Though he's not too bright."
"Hey, he works really hard," said Rin, "He's just not there yet..." 'So it's not Naruto...'
"How are you finding being on a team with Sasuke?"
'And that would be it...' she thought, "You make it sound so difficult."
Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, "You make it look so painless, but I can see through that." His hand went to her neck and found a silver chain, he pulled it out from her top. A small silver coin shaped like a lotus dangled off the end. "You still hold this so close to your heart, Ichijou Rin." Rin took the coin in her hand, turning it she saw some writing. 'To Ichi-Rin from Sasuke'.
'Oh me oh my,' she thought, 'This suggests a past connected with Uchiha's...' She placed the necklace back inside her top, it clinked against itself. Rin hoped that wouldn't do anything, but the ringing continued and the scene changed. 'Great... what now?'
She stood face to face with an older Sasuke, 'Oh.. a Shippuden continuation story..' He stared at her with cold, angry eyes, "All this time you knew where he was... you've been meeting with him... keeping secrets from me..." Rin said nothing, hoping she blacked out of this before anything happened. Sasuke was beside her in less than a second, "You always had a knack for predicting what would happen. Can you see your end?" The Sharingan spun in his eyes but it disappeared just as fast. He placed his head on her shoulder, letting out a quiet laugh. "I can't do it.."
'Yay for soppy unrealistic romances!' Rin cheered, 'But where's that damn ringing when you need it...' She spotted the necklace that had been around her neck before the last ringing. 'I wonder...'She reached for the necklace, pulling it out of Sasuke's shirt and gave it a flick. The ting resonated, getting stuck in her ears, she smiled as the scene changed again. She was back in Konoha, at a bar, sitting next to what looked like her but she had the aura of Shikamaru. To that girls side was a male that reminded her of her younger brother but he had blonde hair and blue eyes. The Shikamaru her looked at her boredly, "Figured it out?"
"Well this is Ino-Shika-Cho," she replied, eating the food in front of her, "I guess I'm Chou." Shika nodded at her, "Our personality has been split into 3, each taking the form of one of the trio. We're the older siblings... a bit troublesome."
"Yoriko-nee," came Shikamaru's bored voice, "Mum told me to come get you guys... it'd be troublesome if we kept her waiting any longer."
"You weren't by any chance sent out to collect Shikaku-san, were you?" Chou-Rin asked Shika-Rin. Shika-Rin sighed and finished her drink, "I was.. but it's annoying trying to get him away from the bar so I decided to wait for him to finish." Chou-Rin nodded in understanding.
"Shikamaru... wait outside," said Shika-Rin, "I'll go get dad." Shikamaru sighed tiredly, muttering about if she'd done that in the first place he wouldn't have had to come out. Shika-rin turned to Chou-Rin, "You have to find that iPod you got the other day. If you can destroy it all this troublesome mess will be over." Chou-Rin looked up, noodles hanging out of her mouth, "Thanks."
"Don't mention it," replied Shika-Rin, patting her on the back, "I had to do something as the brains.. what with him hitting on people." She pointed to the male Ino-Rin who grinned at them. Shika-Rin turned back to Chou-Rin who was eating another plate of food and she sighed. She flicked the bowl and all their ears rang, "Use this new trick to your advantage... annoying as the sound may be."