A/N: All chapters before number eight "Kazan's Lesson" kind of suck because I wrote them like two years ago.. Please disregard the cruddy writing style, misspelled words, and all other errors.
After our race, which was much more than just a race, Kazan and I decided to head home. When we got there, instead of going in, Kazan led me to the window and suggested we "peak inside." Regretfully, we did as she suggested. The subject of what we saw was embarrassing on both the part of us and the part of Mom and Gai-Sensei, especially when Kazan had to tap on the living room window. With blushing red cheeks, Mom broke their lip-lock and came over to open the window.
"What is it?" Mom asked, a little bit upset that we had disrupted their embrace but at the same time completely mortified that we had seen any of it. "What do you need?"
"We sort of can't get in," Kazan grinned, her hand on the back of her head, her elbow pointing up, all in a show of supposed innocence. "Gai never gave Enkai a key, and I left mine home." Her grin grew wider, and she even managed a laugh. Everything was funny to Kazan.
Mom rolled her eyes and walked to the door. On the outside, Kazan and I did the same. Unlike Kazan, I kept myself quiet; mouthing off to someone like Mom could do no good for anyone. Wanting to live through the exam, I stayed silent. Once inside, Kazan went to her bedroom, and I went to mine. I hadn't realized how late it had gotten, and tomorrow, everyone would be out of the forest. The next part of the exam would begin.
It was difficult to fall asleep. My mind was racing with thoughts of what we might've had to do the next day. What if we had another written test? I knew I'd done well on the first, but what were my odds on doing equally excellent on the next? For a moment I tried to calculate the odds in my head, but after the beginning digits, I knew it wouldn't be good. With much effort, I strained to close my eyes, squeezing them as tightly as I could, but when I stopped trying with so much effort, my eyelids sprang open. I was wide awake.
Suddenly, I heard a bustling sound of the trees, a sound I knew well now. I did not panic. Instead, I waited to hear it again. It repeated without fail. Again I waited. After a few minutes of waiting, I heard the noise a third time.
Careful not to make a noise, I gathered myself up out of bed and tip-toed over to the window, which I opened with much care. "Haku, brother, you may enter instead of sitting up in that tree all night," I whispered. Then I took a step back and simply waited for the obviously occurring.
Haku flung himself through the window, yet he made no noise, and landed on his feet. He smiled at his younger sister in a most care-free way that I had not been expecting. "You seem different. You're smiling, for one thing," he said.
"I've got people behind me now," I shrugged coolly. After all, that was the truth; before, I felt like a misfit. Now I felt like I actually belonged not only in this world but in my own family. "I feel human again." That was another truth; being a loner made me feel like a creature.
"I'm so happy for you," Haku smiled with a sense of sincerity. I smiled in return, rather pleased that my half-brother was such a good one. "I really am glad you're having such a pleasant time."
"I'm happy, too," I replied. "But what about you? How are you doing?" My question caught him a bit off guard. I suppose he thought I cared nothing for him, so my concern was unexpected.
"Good," he answered awkwardly. "I'm good." After another silent moment, he added, "Well, you've got an exam tomorrow, so you need your rest."
"I'm not tired!" I began, but his glaring brown eyes cut me off, and he stood their stubbornly until I crawled into bed. When I did, he pulled the blankets up around me and tucked me in.
"Good night, Enkai," Haku smiled sweetly to his younger sister. "And good luck." Haku leaned over and kissed my forehead, and then he went silently to the window, about to climb out when my whisper of a voice stopped him.
"Haku-Kun?" I called delicately over to him. He turned right around to face me, his eyes full of wonder about what I would say to him that could be so important. "You'll come tomorrow and watch, right? Even if you're not supposed to, you'll sneak in, won't you?"
After a second of hesitant thought, Haku nodded. "Of course, En-Chan. If you want me there, then I will be there." Without a further word, he slipped out the window, through the trees across, and to where ever it was he went when he wasn't with me. A smile played on my lips as I fell asleep.
When I woke, the sun wasn't up yet, but it was definitely time to get up. I rubbed my eyes but didn't sit up, and I glanced at the clock; it was a quarter after five. Something neon pink caught my tired eye, and as my vision came into better focus, I figured out what that pink thing was. Yumi sat on the food of my bed with her signature perfect white smile practically blinding me. Startled, I tumbled off the edge.
"Good morning, baby sister!" Yumi chimed. She seemed excited and happy, and her blonde hair was in a long braid that ran down the length of her back, which was strange because usually at five in the morning, she was still a mess. Her glowing pink ninja-wear top and bottom was also adorned with a thick yellow sash across her middle. Her headband across her forehead (usually she wore it around her left thigh) finished the outfit. "Silly Enkai, falling on the floor!"
"Yumi, she's not a morning person," Kazan called from the door. I looked up at my other big sister to find that she had a matching outfit, except the colors were different. Kazan's main color, instead of hot pink like Yumi, was yellow, and her sash was the same brilliant, fire red as her eyes and hair, hair that was also in a braid. "Don't push her buttons," she added while tying her own headband across her forehead.
"Why do you match?" I couldn't help but ask. It was a question I was afraid of the answer to, but why I asked it, I didn't know. I pushed my palm into my forehead, expecting a frustratingly ignorant answer.
"Because Mom said that 'we're a team' and 'we need to match'," Yumi replied, using air quotes. Yumi rolled her eyes, and Kazan threw clothes at me. I discovered it was what I was supposed to wear; the exact same thing only with the shirt dark blue and the pants and sash black.
"Yeah," Kazan agreed with a sarcastic smile. "Apparently, it 'shows our village spirit' and 'has been done every year'. What a load of bull!" Kazan, too, used air quotes. Caring nothing since we were sisters, I got off of the floor and dressed in these clothes. "Also, you have to wear your headband on your forehead. We're supposed to match that way, too," Kazan added, but her headband was slightly different. It was turned ever so minimally to her left. After Kazan braided my hair, Yumi tossed me my headband, and I donned it with village pride, ready for whatever the exam could throw at us.
I was wrong. I wasn't ready. As we stood there later that day with all of the other genin left in the exam, they told us that this would be battle format. I couldn't say I didn't see it coming, but I had sort of been denying that it was. I looked around at the faces of my opponents, most of whom I knew. And it wasn't even a safe bet to say teammates wouldn't fight each other! If I was paired up with Kazan or Yumi, I knew I couldn't win. They said the opponents would be chosen randomly by a computer. I crossed my fingers in hope that I wouldn't fight a cloud ninja, or at least not first.
When the computer selected the first two names, completely by random, we were assured, it came up as Sasuke against Yoroi. Yoroi was a leaf ninja with whom I wasn't very familiar, so I had no personal opposition to this battle commencing. Right off the bat, Sasuke's strength was impressive, and Yoroi seemed to posses a chakra-sucking jutsu. The fight seemed to go on for just a few minutes, and then it was over with Sasuke as the victor and Yoroi as the loser.
Excitement for Sasuke grew, but the sound waned as the next names were pulled. "Don't be me," I heard Jaiden whisper. Unfortunately, fate wasn't with her; the screen featured both her name and the name of her older sister, Manami. I could see in Jaiden's eyes that her heart had sunken, and even Manami looked depressed. No doubt Manami would win, all of us Kumo ninjas thought. Manami and Jaiden took their positions.
"Good luck, little sister," Manami said honestly as she readied herself for the combat. Jaiden crossed her fingers behind her leg, hoping her luck would turn itself around and be in her favor.
"I'll need it," Jaiden murmured, and the battle began. Manami's whip instantly shot out at her, but Jaiden was quick enough to evade it. She tried to use her famous genjutsu, but Manami wouldn't allow her enough time to activate it. Not one blade was used in the battle, but not long into it, Manami was victorious. The second that the Konoha chuunin running the exam claimed Jaiden's defeat, Manami was at her side.
Kazan, Yumi, Yoshiro, and I looked at one another before Yoshi tried to jump over the railing and down to his sisters. Even the three of us couldn't hold him back, and over he went to help Jaiden up. Together, the three treaded off and back up as the computer selected the next two competitors. The two it selected were Kazan's friend Shino and a Sound village boy named Zaku.
Reproachfully, Shino went down, silence sweeping him over. Of course, he wasn't exactly the most talkative guy, so it might have been his usual silence. Zaku flounced down to his own position, confidence glimmering off of him arrogantly. As the fight initiated, Zaku spoke much, even edging Shino into a response. And though it was indeed a verbal response, it was of few words and rather quiet. Zaku, who had led everyone to believe had only one usable arm, revealed his true, deceitful colors; he could, in fact, use both arms well. Their battle was a bit lengthy, and the two seemed to be evenly matched. Somehow, however, Shino slipped his bugs into Zaku's arms. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then Shino's bugs got to work. In just a little while, Zaku was armless, and the battle was won.
"Yeah, Shino!" Kazan called, her fists pumping in the air. I looked at her big grin and realized that she really liked him. It made me think of my own feelings. Feeling like an idiot, I realized that I had misjudged my own feelings. After all, I hadn't been used to really feeling anything at all towards anyone except Gaara, so when I met Lee and liked him, I thought I was infatuated with him, too. Eyes closed and a small nod to myself, I understood that Lee was, simply and just, the best friend I had ever made. Suddenly, the screen lit up with two more names: Kankuro and Misumi.
Misumi was another boy I didn't know too well, from Yoroi's team. He seemed strong enough for a ninja, but I knew Kankuro, and Puppet Boy was tough. There was no way he would go down without a fight. For a while, it seemed like Kankuro was getting rolled over, and my breath caught in my throat when Misumi appeared to have a death grip on him. Of course, I should have expected Kankuro to have such a trick up his sleeves, and he proved to be skilled. It was only his puppet Misumi had, and he used it to crack Misumi's neck. Had he not have had the ability to contort his joints, he would have been dead easily.
The computer paired Sakura with a friend of Yumi's, Ino. Glares and insults were hurled back and forth between the two before any punches or weapons were. It seemed they were rivals, originally best friends until something - my guess was Sasuke - pulled them apart. Once they finally began, it was clear that they were evenly matched. One moment, I was sure Ino would defeat my friend Sakura, but then the next, it seemed like Sakura had it in the bag. I could scarcely breathe; this fight was the most exciting so far, but internally I scowled at the proctors for making us fight each other unnecessarily like this. Someone could get killed. After more than an hour of hard-hitting fighting, Sakura and Ino landed equally strong blows on the other's cheek, and both fell to the ground. The proctor decided, since no one won, that neither would move on. For a tie, they both lost.
Now the computer had Temari against TenTen. I hadn't seen TenTen fight before, but she didn't look like the type of girl to mess with. I did, however, know Temari, and Temari was as stubborn as her brothers and even more feisty. Expecting another long battle, I was wrong; Temari easily defeated TenTen in a matter of minutes. According to Mom's watch, it was twelve minutes exactly.
Next was the girl from Zaku's team, Kin, against Shikamaru. His name sparked my memory, and I remembered that he was the other person to get a perfect score on the written exam. This would be interesting. Anxiously, I held my breath as I waited for Shikamaru to show me what he had. This fight was sure to be a good one.
A/N: Weird place to cut off, but it was getting to looonnngggg..
