Yes I know that I said that I wouldn't update until I got nine reviews, but school starts tomorrow and God only knows when I'll have time to update again. So, my thanks to TakeTenEyes, byakuhana, Nemo 131, Cross 177, and my newest reviewer, TonfaChick! Cue the applause! And now, onto the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the book that I need to read for my Geography course by tomorrow.
Chapter Eleven
Dog Eyes
I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven't got the guts to bite people themselves.
-August Strindberg
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Konoha, 12:12 p.m.
Outside Yamanaka flower shop"Kiba?"
Kiba grinned and adjusted his jacket. "The one and only, honey. And what might your name be?"
Paige felt very strange. Her face felt hot, her stomach was twisted up in knots, and her heart was pounding. What the hell is this? She thought.
You silly, inexperienced child. That's what it feels like when you have a crush, you little fan girl, you!
But Paige didn't hear Inner Sakura. She was too busy trying to remember what her name was. Kiba looked at her expectantly. Paige blushed more deeply. Tori smirked. Paige had never liked a boy before. She always made fun of Tori when she liked someone.
Before Paige could gather herself though, Shino began talking. Unlike before when he was yelling, his voice was now perfectly level. "Kiba," he said slowly, "I know what you did. You kidnapped three of my bugs and hid them. I want you to come with me and get them from wherever you hid them."
Kiba laughed. "But Shino, even the smallest bat can find its friends when they are separated."
Tori laughed. Shino scowled. "Bats aren't insects. Come. Now."
Kiba strolled away behind Shino. "Bye bye, blondie. We'll talk later."
"Kiba…" growled Shino. Kiba flashed one last smile in Paige's direction, then followed Shino.
Tori, Paige, Hinata, and Ino all stared at Paige. "Wh-what was that?" stammered Hinata.
Tori grinned. "Dear friends, we have just witnessed a historical moment. Paige has her first crush."
Paige scowled and rolled her eyes. "No I don't. I don't know what you're talking about."
Ino smiled. "Oh yes you do! It was meant to be! Just like me and Sai!" she gasped, "Maybe we could have a double date sometime!"
Sakura tried to keep herself from snorting. "Why don't you just have a double wedding?"
Ino smiled. "Yeah! Sakura, you could be Sai's best man!"
Sakura's face morphed into a mask of complete fury. "What are you talking about Ino-pig?" Before she could continue her rant, another person entered the conversation. "Oh great! I found you guys! Hey, Sakura-chan…" It was Naruto. Paige sighed with relief. With any luck Naruto's presence would cause them to forget about Kiba. The girls all looked at Naruto. Ino decided to go back to "working"; Hinata slunk away to meet Kurenai with a blush on her face. Out of the Konoha kuniochi, only Sakura remained. "What was it that you needed, Naruto?"
Naruto grinned. "I actually only need you two. Tori, Granny Tsunade needs to do some medical examinations on you. And while she's doing that, Paige, I need to show you to the apartment that you guys are sharing."
Tori's face went pale. "Medical examinations?"
Naruto nodded obliviously. "Yeah. Usual doctor stuff, plus some chakra stuff."
Paige grinned evilly. Tori hated being examined, especially when she had to take her clothes off. Oh well! That's what she deserves for making fun of me and Kiba-kun!
"So, Sakura-chan, can you take Tori to the hospital and I'll take Paige to her apartment?"
"Sure. I have to go there for training in an hour anyways. I might as well take Tori."
As they turned to go their separate ways, Tori grabbed Paige by the arm. "I'll get you for this," she hissed.
"And how is it my fault?" Paige whispered back.
Tori scowled and followed Sakura. Paige waved goodbye and went after Naruto.
"So, where are we going?"
Naruto replied, "I'm going to take you to your apartment. It's actually in the same complex that Tenten lives in. I already picked up groceries for you guys. All you really have to do is unpack." They walked a few more blocks until they arrived at a three-story building. A few large trees grew near by. It wasn't a very busy part of the village. In fact, it seemed rather cozy. "Well, this is it. Your room is on the third floor. I think it's A3. I've gotta go! Have fun!" He ran to the nearest tree, sprinted up the trunk, and leaped away over the rooftops. Well, I guess that's it then. Paige began to make her way up the stairs to the apartment. When she reached the top, she made her way down the hall to A3. The door was open, so Paige went in. She glanced around. The window faced the street. There was a futon in the room with some pillows and a plushie that looked suspiciously like Neji. The frames on the wall held pictures of Tenten with her teammates. Paige heard something moving behind her. "Sorry, Tenten. That idiot Naruto told me the wrong room number." She turned to face the other girl. Tenten's hair was wet and she was wearing a bathrobe. "Oh, that's okay, Paige-chan. Naruto is eternally sending people to the wrong place. Although he's never sent anyone to my house before. But he is always sending people to our training ground in the middle of battle simulations. We're really lucky that not too many people have gotten hurt because of him."
Paige grinned at her. "He said that Tori and I would be staying in the same apartment complex as you. Do you know which room is ours?"
"Oh yeah, Tsunade-sama did mention that. You're right across the hall from me. There are bunches of old people here, so you need to be quiet at night. Anything else?"
"Is that a Neji plushie?"
Tenten blushed. "Yeah, it is. Hinata helped me make him. She's really good at artsy stuff like that. She was trying to teach me how to sew. It really didn't go too well. I'm better with sebon needles than I am with sewing needles."
Paige smiled again. "Same here. Tori is decent at that kind of thing, but only if it catches her attention. Once she gets bored with it she'll never touch it again."
Tenten laughed. "Here, let me grab your key. I can help you unpack Tori's stuff. Now where did I put it?" She shuffled the papers on the low table, then started looking inside of jars. "Ah! Here it is! Right where I would be sure to find it!" Tenten held up the key triumphantly; it had been stashed inside of the pocky jar. "Let's go!" They crossed the hall on tiptoe. "Shush," warned Tenten. "The Ushijimas usually take a nap around this time. They live next door." She slid the key into the lock of C3, then silently eased open the door. The layout was very much like Tenten's room. Just inside the door was an area for shoes walled off from the rest of the house. A few shallow steps led down to the living area. The furniture was just like in Tenten's house (aside from the Neji plushie). There was a futon, a low dinner table that could fit a couple of people, and a little kitchenette. A door led to the small bedroom. In the bedroom were two twin beds that faced each other. Also in the room were two doors and a window. One door led to the bathroom, the other to the closet. The window looked directly out at one of the trees. Paige thought that she could probably jump from the window right into the tree. Tenten walked across the room to the closet and removed the bags inside. "Here's you suitcase. I think that Naruto brought it this morning," she tossed the suitcase onto the nearest bed. "And here is Tori's duffel bag and backpack. Lee brought them over to me last night around two," she threw Tori's bags across the room to the bed by the window. They landed in the exact center. "God knows what he was doing up that late. Him and his stupid youth. Maybe he was running laps by moonlight or something." Paige didn't seem to be listening to her. She was staring out the window. Tenten grabbed a pocky stick out of the pocket of her bathrobe and threw it at the back of Paige's head like a kunai. "Hey! This is the first time that I've gotten to talk to a girl in ages, and all you're doing is staring out the window!" Paige turned to look at Tenten with a slight smile on her face. "Please Paige! I spend all day with Emo Boy and the Youth Squad! Talk!" Paige crossed over to the bed with her suitcase on it and started unpacking.
"Here, you get Tori's stuff. What do you want to talk about?"
"I need to talk about girl stuff!" A devious look stole across Tenten's face. "For instance, how about boys? I saw Hinata at the training ground, and she mentioned that you met the local dog nut. What was that about?"
Paige blushed. "Aren't Ino and Sakura the ones who ask this sort of question, not you?"
Tenten gave a deranged laugh. "Oh no! I'm just as evil as they are!" In the next instance she leaped across both beds and held a pocky stick across Paige's throat like a kunai. "Spill, or else," she growled.
Paige burst into laughter. "Nice weapon, Tenten."
Tenten glanced down at the chocolate stick in her hand. "Whoops. I forgot that I didn't have any real weapons," she reached down into her robe and pulled out the red box. "Pocky?" She held the box out to Paige.
"Sure! Thanksies!" Paige reached out for the box of candy, but Tenten pulled it away. "Not until you tell me what happened with Lord Hound."
Paige sighed heavily. "Fine. He was running away from Shino by disguising himself as a puppy with one of those jutsus of his. When he saw me a reverted back to his true form to introduce himself,"
Tenten interrupted. "From what I heard he reverted back to his true form to flirt with you."
"Okay, okay. He was flirting. Then once Shino started yelling at him he left."
"Did he say goodbye? Or did he just say 'see ya' or something?" Tenten asked eagerly.
Paige blushed again. "He said 'Bye bye, blondie. We'll talk later.'"
"You memorized exactly what he said!?! You so like him!"
"I don't like him," Paige mumbled. She was getting flustered. "I was just feeling kinda funny."
Tenten looked up from the clothes that she was placing in the closet. "What do you mean funny?"
"I just felt weird. My stomach was all screwed up, my head hurt, and I couldn't concentrate."
"Ha! Your own body has convicted you! You so like him!"
"Says who? I'm sure it was just because I'm so tired."
"It's classic! That's how everyone feels when they are around a special person!"
Paige looked at the floor like it was the most interesting thing that she had ever seen. "Please don't tell anyone, Tenten. I don't really know what that feeling was yet."
Tenten gave her a knowing smile. "Okay, Paige. Whatever." She looked back at Tori's duffel bag and then glanced at Paige's. "Hey, neither of you brought any soap. You have two different kinds of shampoo, but no soap."
Paige glanced at her suitcase. "Yeah, my mom had soap in her suitcase. Whoops."
Tenten walked towards the door. "I'm going to go to my apartment and get dressed. I'll grab you an extra bar of soap while I'm over there. Once Tori gets back we should all have lunch."
"'Kay. Thanks, Ten-chan."
Paige went back into the main room after Tenten left. She wandered into the kitchenette and started poking through cabinets. "What the heck! The only things in here are tea bags and ramen! This is Naruto's work. He is the only person in the world who would buy one box of tea bags and twenty-seven packs of ramen!" As Paige continued her search, a knock sounded on the door. "It's open, Tenten," called Paige. The door slid open and Paige heard footsteps coming into the kitchenette. "Sorry, I'm not Tenten." Paige looked up to see Kiba. "Remember me?" This time Paige managed to keep her cool. "Yeah, nice to see you again, Kiba. I'm Paige. Where's Akamaru?" Kiba smiled at her. "I had to leave him outside. They don't like having dogs in the building. So what's your story?"
"You must be the only one who doesn't know yet. Apparently Tori and I have some sort of freaky chakra and Orochimaru found out about it. So Tsunade-sama is trying to protect us by teaching us to use our chakra."
"Oh yeah! I did hear about that! Tsunade-sama and Gai were talking about it! Didn't it have something to do with a parallel universe? I zoned out because I thought it was some crap about their Superman fan club."
"I still can't believe that they like Superman! How did Gai even find one of those?"
Kiba put on a mysterious face. "That, my dear girl, is one of the world's few mysteries. We may never know how." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "You wanna go grab some lunch?"
"Sorry, Kiba," said Paige, "I already told Tenten that I would have lunch with her and Tori." Kiba's face fell. "Okay then. I'll ask Shino. Wait!" He brightened again. "You wanna hang out with me tomorrow night around six-thirty?"
"Sure! Why not!"
Kiba beamed at her. "I'll see you then. Ja ne!" Paige continued to smile after he left the apartment. But her merriment did not last long. A minute later Tori stormed in followed by Tenten. As Tori stomped into the bedroom, Tenten sidled up to Paige. "I think she's in a bad mood," she whispered. "Be careful what you say," Paige whispered back. "So," asked Tenten nervously, "How was your doctor's appointment?"
"How do you fucking think it was?" growled Tori. "It was terrible!"
"Would you care to elaborate?" asked Tenten.
"By the way Paige, what was that dog doing up here?" Paige flushed slightly, but Tori didn't notice. "You wanna know what happened? I'll tell you what happened!" Tori's voice was rising.
"Could you be a little bit quieter, Tori?" Tori glared at Paige, but she lowered her voice to a dangerous whisper. "So first I got to take off my clothes and be prodded by Tsunade. Do you know how embarrassing it is to be in close proximity to her without a top on?" Tenten nodded cautiously. "Then she left and sent back a male nurse! It was just as bad as Tsunade if not worse! And when he was finished doing God knows what Tsunade came in and started interrogating me! While my clothes were still off! So she's asking me all these questions one after the another, and then when I snapped at her she said to me 'Stop being bitchy and answer the questions! It's for your own good.' So I said, ' Maybe I wouldn't be so bitchy if I wasn't sitting here in my bra!' And she goes, 'Just answer the damn questions.' Once she was finally done she dragged out an eye chart, and gave me one of those eye patch things. I read the chart perfectly."
"What's so bad about that?" asked Paige.
Tori grimaced. "Tsunade was still standing in front of me when I read the chart! She wasn't even done explaining it to me yet!"
"What does that mean?" asked Tenten.
Tori frowned. "It means that I have some sort of freak dojutsu! I looked right through Tsunade to the chart on the other side!"
"And what's so bad about that?" asked Paige. "Dojutsus are extremely useful."
"I have no idea how to control it! In fact I can't control my chakra at all! It spikes when I'm angry, but other than that I suck at any sort of control!"
"That's okay!" said Tenten cheerfully. "That just means that you'll need to train extra hard! Everyone in Konoha has been using chakra their whole lives. You only just started. You can't possibly compare yourself to them! You just need someone to train you who specializes in dojutsu!"
Paige jumped in. "Exactly! You're so lucky! Kakashi can train you!"
Tori turned away from them for a moment. When she turned back her eyes were squinted up and a horrible half smile was on her face. "Oh no," she said in a saccharine voice. "Kakashi is still recovering from his last mission. He won't be well enough to train anyone for several weeks. Besides, what I have is nothing like the Sharingan."
Tenten glanced at Paige worriedly. "Then what is it?'
Tori's voice went completely flat. "Tsunade-sama said that it seems to be a mutation of the Byakagan. I get to train with Neji."
Yeah, that's that. Anyways, wish me luck! As of tomorrow I am officially freshmeat. That'll be fun. I'll see you in a bit!