Guys, from here to the end of this first "arc", the chapters will be a bit shorter, alright?

We need to get to nineteen chapters before returning to the village for the Chunin exams.

By the way, there ARE such things as banks in the ninja world. Those of you in Shippuden, remember Kakuzu? He frequently visits banks, they mention.

See if you can spot the Hidan reference! We hate you, Hidan! :D Especially in the the ENGLISH DUB!

Also, this will NOT turn into a Death Note crossover… Raiden's just obsessed with the manga...

Recap: Hitomi was exhausted after the fight with Karin. She finally produced her first effective fireball jutsu! Karin managed to steal a scroll from Hitomi, but it was instead a scroll for owning... a weasel? She brings it to Lord Orchimaru, only to be chastised, leading him to be ridiculed by Dosu, leading to Itachi-sama's sudden cold. The next day...

Chapter Ten

The moonlight was still streaming through the open window of the small room when I woke up. My eyes readjusted to the lighting, and it took me a few seconds before I actually realized where I was.

I slowly got up from the bottom bunk, and looked up at the top one to see Hitomi curled up underneath a blanket, her face hidden in the tightly clutched pillow.

I quickly scanned the room and saw that there wasn't any clock, so I had virtually no idea what the time was. I could tell that it was past midnight by looking outside, but nothing else. I didn't have a watch with me, and I doubted that Hitomi did either. Raiden might have one, but I didn't want to wake up anyone in the middle of the night.

Well, I thought to myself. It's an inn, there should be a clock at the front desk.

And I REALLY need to lose the habit of getting up extra early.

The door creaked, and then shut quietly with a muffled thump.

Hitomi turned over slightly, rubbing her eyes.

The door opened again, and a white-haired kunoichi quietly walked inside.

Hitomi yawned. "Shiori, what are you doing up this early?"

Shiori's head jerked upwards, and her expression softened. "Oh, you're awake?" she said in a low voice. "I was just wondering what the time was. They have a clock hanging on the wall in the hallway."

"Oh," Hitomi nodded sleepily. "So, what time is it?"

"1:42, maybe 1:43 by now."

Hitomi groaned and sat up in the top bunk. "It took so long for me to fall asleep after what happened yesterday, and now I don't feel like going BACK to sleep."

Shiori gave a sympathetic smile. "Sorry for waking you up."

"Nah, it's fine, it's not you."

"Still thinking about yesterday's events?"

"How could I not? Yeesh, that Karin girl sure is a freak. She and her chakra-sensing creeperness…" Upon looking at Shiori's slightly amused face, she quickly added, "Not that there's anything wrong with chakra-sensing!"

"Oh, you know what I mean!" Hitomi huffed, as she practically cart-wheeled out of the top bunk. She landed with a loud thump in front of me, and smiled sheepishly. "I should probably stick to not making a lot of noise at this time."

I laughed quietly. "That goes for both of us." Then I looked at her closely in the darkness. "Er… nice pajamas?"

Hitomi looked down. She was wearing… light blue… "feety pajamas"…

Then I spotted a small limp figure on the floor.

"Is that… a stuffed… wease—" I started.

"Don't judge me," she cut me off with a smirk. Then she held her suddenly-growling stomach. "Gah…"

I felt hungry as well at that. "We didn't have a proper dinner yesterday, did we?"

"No, we didn't, unless you count two apples each as a proper dinner."

"I hate apples."

"I'm starting to, ever since Satoru-sensei and Death Note."

I agreed with a laugh and thought for a bit. "Maybe there's a bank of some sort nearby… Then we can take out some money from one of our accounts and buy some real food."

"What would be open at a time like this?" Hitomi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No idea whatsoever… Maybe we should've asked Raiden to go and ask Akane for some food. She would've gladly laid out a banquet for him, huh?" Hitomi looked down with a bitter look on her face. I decided to change the subject, before we had a sudden unexplainable combustion of the inn on our hands. "Nevermind. Anyway, should we go wake up Raiden as well?"

"Leave that baka, we don't need him to walk us anywhere." She sulked.

"You're probably right," I agreed. "He might start to whine and complain for waking him up."

She smiled, and we walked to the door.

"Wait, shouldn't we change first?" she said suddenly.

True, she was wearing comfortable-looking light-blue "feety pajamas" with a simply adorable night cap, and I was wearing a black set of silken night clothes, collared and long-sleeved.

"On second thought," Hitomi started. "You mind going? This isn't exactly the appropriate getup to wear at night, out in the open."

I nodded and went for the door. "Be back in a bit. Don't bore yourself to death!"

Hitomi grinned cheekily and picked up the stuffed weasel. "Don't worry, I have my little Itachi here to keep me company!"

Damn.

"Uh… Shiori?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you on the ground?"

"I fell."

"…"

"Just… go back to sleep, Raiden."

"…"

"What?"

"…Are you going to get back up anytime soon?"

It must've just been the effects of that jutsu used by Dosu of the Hidden Sound, but I had just been walking along the hall, maybe about 5 doors from mine and Hitomi's room, when I got a sharp pain in both ears, my eyes unfocused, and I fell flat on my face on the floor. It happened to be in front of the room for Raiden and Satoru-sensei, and Raiden flung the door open a few seconds after.

I slowly got up from the floor. "You can't sleep either?" I asked.

"What makes you say that?" he replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, about three seconds after I fell, you opened the door. Meaning you were wide awake to make a mad dash to it."

Raiden raised his hands in mock defeat. "Fine, fine, you got me. I couldn't sleep, no."

"Let me guess, reading Death Not—"

Just then, the door to mine and Hitomi's room opened, and she walked out dragging a pillow, stuffed weasel tucked under her arm. She spotted us, and made her way towards us. "Shioriiiiiiiiiii?" she moaned. "What happened?"

I shrugged. "I guess the full effects of yesterday's fight finally got to me."

"What do you mean?" she replied, raising an eyebrow.

"The Sound shinobi who attacked us, Dosu his name was, his jutsu really affected my senses. I'm still suffering from the after effects."

"Yeah, me too." Raiden said, pulling at one of his ears with a grimace. "Every time I get up or make a sudden movement, I—"

Hitomi narrowed her eyes. With as much strength as she could, she lifted the pillow, and slammed it against Raiden with an overwhelming power.

"STOP BUTTING IN, YOU IDIOT!"

The door nearest to us opened and a man stormed out. "WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU THREE? IT'S THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!"

Hitomi rolled her eyes and spoke in an apathetic tone. "It's NOT the middle of the night, it's about 2 o' clock right now." Then she gave the slightest smile, but there was almost a frightening presence in it, one she had adopted from myself.

"Ninja like us get up at about this time every day, sir." I nodded slightly with a similar indifferent tone. "We apologize for any inconveniences. We thought that everyone in this village had the initiative to seize the day." I stared him in the eye with a shocking intensity alike Hitomi's, and a straight face.

He looked back at us both with a face that made it seem as if he was hypnotized.

Raiden postponed his chastisement of Hitomi and followed our example. He spoke with a serious face and air of superiority. "We'll try our best not to disturb you again. Meanwhile, we have to get on with our own duties. Good day."

The man nodded slowly, and turned around, heading back into his own room. He was quietly muttering under his breath. "Those kids are right… At my age, I should be getting up at 2… I should be seizing the day… I should be getting on with my own duties…" He laid his hand on the doorknob and froze. Then he started to yell like a maniac. "I WILL GET UP FROM 2! I WILL SEIZE THE DAY! I WILL GET ON WITH MY OWN DUTIES!"

We heard some muffled shouts from other rooms after the man shut the door. ("WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" "WE'RE TRYING TO SLEEP, HERE!" "IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP, I'M GONNA GET MAD!")

The moment everything quieted down, all three of us fell to the ground in laughter.

"I can't believe that guy!" Hitomi gasped between laughs.

Raiden shook his head with a wide grin. "How idiotic can you get?"

"Anyway," I started, trying to catch my breath. I wanted to change the subject before any of us died from suffocation. "Is sensei back yet, Raiden?"

"No, he's not." Raiden replied. "What are we going to do while he's gone?"

"It's not like we can just explore the village until he returns," I added.

"Maybe we SHOULD start looking for this Kenshin Sakamoto guy," Hitomi added with a thoughtful look.

"We should also think of a good place to keep the scroll." Raiden looked to both of us. "We don't want another Karin incident."

"You think Akane would know anything about the Third's friend?"

Both Raiden and Hitomi seemed to be put off by this idea. "Er… Alright, never mind Akane. You guys have any better ideas?"

Hitomi grinned. "Well, for one thing, we should get something to eat."

Raiden raised an eyebrow. "There's not going to be anything open at this time of night."

Hitomi stuck her tongue out at him. "We've already established THAT fact, but there's always a chance that there's some kind of 24-hour shop nearby."

"Do we even have any money?" he asked.

"We already thought of that," I spoke up. "We could just take out some money from one of our bank accounts, if there's a bank nearby."

"Or," Raiden drawled with a mischievous grin. "We could just borrow some money!"

Hitomi's eyes bulged. "No way… you don't mean!"

I wasn't getting it. "What, borrow money from Akane?"

"NO!" My two teammates shouted. I glared at them in return; we didn't want to risk waking up any more psychotic guests.

"Then what do you mean?" I said with a bored sigh.

Raiden shook his head. "It's pretty obvious. It's not like Satoru-sensei ONLY had 150 ryō yesterday. Don't you think he should have had more?"

My eyes widened. "Wait, you want to TAKE his money!"

Raiden nodded proudly, as if he had just come up with the most impressive idea the world had ever seen.

Hitomi slapped him behind the head. "Don't be stupid! As if he'd be dumb enough to leave his money with three genin,"

Raiden glared at her. "He left everything else in here!"

All three of us stopped talking and stared at each other in the silence. Eyes widening, we bolted up and dashed into Raiden's and Satoru-sensei's room, effectively knocking over a lamp, a stool, and a stack of newspapers.

In a matter of seven minutes and 23 seconds, the three Leaf village genin had completely turned their sensei's room upside down. The navy blue duffel bag belonging to Satoru Hashimoto was emptied out, revealing only a thin black notebook, a portable kunai sharpener, and several apple cores.

The white-haired kunoichi sighed with an annoyed look. "What the hell is this…"

The black-haired kunoichi gave a disgusted look. "What a slob…"

However, the only shinobi in the room, jumped back in alarm and pointed a kunai shakily at the duffel bag. "It's… It's true…" he muttered, eyes wide with terror. "SHIORI, HITOMI, GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Hitomi Yamanaka stared at the boy. "Whaaa? I think Raiden's finally lost it... Not that he was normal from the start…"

Shiori Kuroshima looked back and forth, from Raiden Nagahara to the duffel bag. "What happened? Is something wrong?"

Raiden was still shaking, but managed to whisper. "It's… It's the notebook… Sensei has the notebook!"

Both kunoichi were silent, but then burst out laughing. "Raiden, you idiot! You're reading too much manga!" Hitomi laughed. "Do you ACTUALLY think that's the Death Note?"

Shiori laughed and reached to pick up the dark notebook, which was lying upside down on the floor. If Raiden saw the front cover, then he would relax. But in alarm, Raiden threw his kunai towards her outstretched hand. Fortunately, Shiori saw the kunai in time to retract her hand, and only grazed her hand slightly. "RAIDEN!" she shouted in shock.

Hitomi picked up the kunai and threateningly waved it at Raiden. "What the HELL is wrong with you! You just ATTACKED your own TEAMMATE!"

But Raiden was unfazed by the accusation.

"DON'T TOUCH IT!" he yelled. "YOU BOTH KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU TOUCH THE DEATH NOTE!"

I face-palmed myself. He's REALLY overdoing it... I thought.

Hitomi looked furious. "Now I have to bring out that big old first aid kit! Not that it's a problem, Shiori," she reassured.

I gave a wan smile. "It's not a serious injury at all, just a scratch. Don't waste your supplies," then I turned to Raiden. "And YOU! Be realistic! You always have your head in some manga book, and there isn't really anything wrong with that, but really! As if Satoru-sensei would have a Death Note..."

Hitomi nodded with a scowl. "I have no idea what Akane sees in a paranoid dope like you!"

Raiden turned to hide his reddening face, while muttering a rather... sincere apology. Then he turned back towards us with a thoughtful look, pointing to the wooden vanity in the room. It had several drawers. "You think he would've left money in there?"

Hitomi wrinkled her nose. "You check!"

"Huh?" Raiden replied blankly.

"We're not checking in there!" I exclaimed. "You check!"

Raiden just blinked, shrugged his shoulders, and opened each drawer, one by one. "Nah, there's nothing in any of these. He took all his clothes, so he probably took his money, too."

"Wait, I thought he was scouting in the area?" I asked. "Then why did he take all his stuff?"

Hitomi shrugged. "Maybe he thought we'd take his stuff?"

Raiden grinned. "That's exactly what we were planning to do, he's good!" Then his face melted into a look of mock horror. "Almost as good as Light Yaga—"

Both Hitomi and I grabbed his bandages and pulled. "ENOUGH WITH THE DEATH NOTE REFERENCES!"

And then, we all stared at the thin, dark notebook lying facedown on the floor.

"Uh… I know it isn't really, but shouldn't we at least…?" Hitomi said hesitantly.

I nodded in agreement.

Raiden jumped backwards again, picking up the already-thrown kunai. "I'M NOT DOING IT!"

Hitomi and I rolled our eyes at him, and I motioned to Hitomi to pass the folded towel on one of the beds to me. Carefully, I touched the notebook with the towel and flipped it over.

Raiden gave a sigh of relief and sank to the floor.

"You really DO have problems…" Hitomi laughed.

We were all satisfied with the fact that we had not encountered a killing device, but even more so when we realized that it was a journal of some sort.

"Is it a diary?" I asked aloud, trying to contain my laughter.

Raiden huffed. "Guys don't keep diaries!"

"Sasuke keeps a diary…" Hitomi said with a flat tone.

My eyes widened. "Does he really?"

Hitomi nodded, and Raiden snickered. "How do you even know that?"

"You guys know that lake near the Uchiha residence?" she asked.

Both Raiden and I nodded.

"I go there to work on different fire jutsu, and he goes there too, sometimes. Though when he's there, I usually just leave, or start to annoy him. Usually the latter. It's a lot of fun!"

"I can imagine!" I smiled, still holding the journal.

"Well, sometimes Sasuke works on his own fire jutsu, but quite a few times, he just sits on the dock, writing in a leather diary… It's kinda creepy, he gets this far-off look in his eye, and then starts glaring at the book…"

Raiden raised an eyebrow. "Does he write about daily life?"

Hitomi started giggling madly. "No, actually, he writes depressing poetry!" She stood up and took a dramatic pose. "TO WAIT!" she proclaimed. "THAT WAS THE PREDICAMENT! THE TRIAL! THE DILEMMA!" She continued. "NOW TO WAIT! THE AWAKENING HAD YET TO COME!" She made another dramatic pose, which made it seem that she had stabbed herself in the heart. "THE AWAKENING HAD YET TO COME! ONLY THEN, COULD THERE TRULY BE, A PEACEFUL REALITY!"

All three of us were clutching our stomachs, laughing our heads off, and in between gasps, Hitomi managed to hiccup, "I memorized that whole part, only because he did those same movements, shouting at the top of his lungs!"

I got up suddenly, still laughing, and my vision unfocused again, making me dizzy. I fell back down, and the journal I was still clutching opened slightly. A piece of glossy paper fluttered to the ground.

Raiden stopped laughing and jumped back with a kunai for the third time this morning. "SOMETHING CAME OUT OF IT!" he yelled. He was soon again quieted by Hitomi's pillow. However, the force of the feathery projectile caused him to slam into the tall wooden dresser, on top of which was a potted plant. The plant fell next to Raiden, but surprisingly did not break. Then again, the floor WAS carpeted. The dirt simply spilled out onto the carpet, along with something else.

We all sweatdropped.

He kept his wallet in the plant? I thought while facepalming myself.

Hitomi twitched. "We… sure do have…"

"One STRANGE sensei…" Raiden finished.

No kidding.

*Authoresses(?) Comments*

We're going to have very few and very minor plot changes that will be put into effect BY this Wednesday, the 24th.

Meaning there will be only a few paragraphs added into probably two of the already published chapters.

I will post an update in another chapter by Wednesday as a reminder, as well as state the location of these additions.

Really sorry, but we just came up with an awesome idea...

-Melpomene Black

P.S. For those of you who don't know because you haven't seen our dA, Lucky's birthday was on the 18th of August! :D SHE'S 15 :DDDDD I made an epic painting of Itachi which you can see if you visit our dA account, link on our Fanfiction profile. She thanks everyone who's messaged her a Happy Birthday! :D