Chapter 12

~Artemis~

~*Flashback*~

I was starting year two at a new school. My Dad was in the army reserves then, so we moved a lot. I had walked into the school that morning, excited and dreading, my Minnie Mouse backpack on my shoulders. Don't get me wrong, yes, the bag is pink, yes, it is girly, but my mum got it for me, so I don't want to upset her by not using it.

When I walked onto the tarmac playground, I saw different groups of people and could tell straight away which stereotypes they fit in with. The large group of girls wearing pink, pink, pink, would be the cheerleaders of their high school, and the popular people who were popular because their parents have a lot of money or because they're pretty. The group of boys that were talking about sports would be the high school football or soccer or basketball team. The kids at a picnic table discussing what they learned in maths would be the computer whizz geeks that the populars and sports fanatics would beat up every day for no reason. Yes, I've been reading teenager novels, have been able to since I started year one. I sighed, pushing a lock of my side fringe out of my eyes before continuing across the tarmac……

I had been going to this school for a week now, and when I stepped onto the tarmac every lunchtime, some bullies would always seem to be waiting to circle around me and pick on me.

"Hey looky what we have here boys," One of the third graders sneered as they circled around me while I clutched my lunchbox tightly.

"It's the army brat who got no fwiends." He finished in a baby voice, because he knew that got me crying. Bring on the water works if you please. Silent tears started to roll down my cheeks as the boy sneered in triumph, then the circle of older boys started pushing and shoving me around and around, trying to get me to retaliate. I was smarter than that though.

"Hey! Bumface!" I heard suddenly. I sniffed as I looked up to see a girl I knew of that was in third grade, Zeala Isolde, I was told that was her name. The group of boys turned to face her, and she looked like she could crack up laughing.

"Zeala, you've come out of your shell." The ringleader commented with a smirk. I sniffled and tried to wipe away my tears.

"What of it, James? You not afraid of me anymore? Not scared I'm going to impale you?" She asked, sounding like she meant every word of what she had said. I gasped quietly. Zeala, was really brave, sticking up for a second grader she barely even knew.

"You wouldn't dare, not after getting suspended for it. Miss goody goody two shoes wouldn't dare get another black mark against her name." The ringleader replied, half mocking, half fearful.

"Leave the poor girl alone, pick on someone your own size." She said coldly, "Or did they all beat you?'"She asked in the same frosty tone.

"Shut up, Zeala." The boy scowled, then nodded to his friends and they walked away. Zeala turned her gaze to me then, which had softened.

"Are you alright? Did they hit you or just assault you with words like they seem to be so good at." She asked me as she walked over to me. I didn't answer, just looked up at her, admiration in my eyes. This was the first time that someone had ever stuck up for me.

She crouched down to my height then.

"You're new here aren't you?" She asked, her voice a murmur. I just nodded in reply and looked up at her, a thankful smile on my face.

After that, Zeala looked after me at the school, I'd hang out with her every break, since she was a year older than me in third grade. And my Dad quit the Army reserves at the end of that year, so now I had a permanent home…..

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A week later, another new girl arrived. She was put into my class and was put next to me. She blushed as the teacher gently pushed her into the classroom and to the front of the class.

"Class, this is Alyss Mizuko. Everyone please make her feel welcome." The teacher explained with a warm smile. Alyss gave a shy wave and a tiny smile to the class.

"Now Alyss, you'll be sitting next to Artemis over there." The teacher pointed at me and I waved and gave the new girl a kind smile. She shyly took a seat next to me and I turned to her and stuck out my hand.

"Hi there, I'm Artemis, nice to meet ya." Alyss shyly took my hand and smiled at me in return.

"I'm Alyss." She murmured. I nodded.

"Hey, would you like to sit with us at lunch?" I asked her. She nodded, humming in agreement.

Lunch came around soon enough, and as we walked out, James and his motley crew were waiting to "greet" Alyss on the tarmac.

"Well, well, what have we got here boys? Another girl we can punch around." He smirked and Alyss cowered, but I stood in front of her, my arms spread wide.

"Don't you dare touch her James, remember what Zeala did to you the last time you tried to hurt me? That can happen again." James sneered at my confident reply.

"Oh, what makes you so sure?" He smirked cockily.

'"Because she's right behind you cracking her knuckles with her I'm-gonna-kill-you look on." I replied smugly. James' smirk faltered. I started laughing when he and his crew promptly left the scene. Zeala scoffed and walked over to us.

"There must be another new kid if James was involved." She stated in a knowing tone. I put my hands on my hips and met Zeala's gaze.

"Gee, how'd ya guess?" I asked sarcastically. I was fast becoming known for my sarcasm. Then I looked behind me to see that Alyss was hiding behind one of the building walls. I smiled apologetically and walked over to her, holding a hand out for her.

"Sorry about that, but you just met the current school bullies, I'm afraid. But don't worry, if you stick with us, they won't hurt you." I smiled encouragingly this time as I coaxed Alyss out. She did come out after a moment of hesitation, however. I smiled as I took her hand and lead her over to Zeala.

"Z, this is the new girl, Alyss Mizuko." I said happily, looking back at Alyss with my now trademark grin. Alyss hid behind me a little, and I giggled.

"Don't worry Alyss, Zeala won't hurt you, she doesn't have anything against you at all, she actually wants to help protect you from those mean bullies." Alyss slowly came out from behind my back and I turned to face her.

"That wasn't hard at all was it? Now," I turned and stepped out of the way and brought Alyss over to Zeala.

"Alyss, this is Zeala Isolde, Zeala, this is Alyss Mizuko." I said happily, formally introducing them. Zeala smiled kindly at Alyss and held out her hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Alyss." Zeala smiled, then pouted as a lock of her hair fell into her face. She pushed her hair back, then pulled it back into a ponytail with one of the array of hair ties around her wrists. Alyss smiled, then giggled.

"I'm Alyss, and it's nice to meet the both of you." I smiled, glad that we had a new friend, someone else to talk to.

Slowly, Alyss came out of her shell, but stayed close to both myself and Zeala. We always made sure we were next to each other in class, then, when breaks rolled around, we'd always hang out with Zeala. We stayed at each other's houses almost every weekend we could and, as the year slowly passed, we gradually started doing more and more things with each other, including going to movies and just hanging out on weekends. The three of us became as close as any friends can get.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I was walking across the tarmac in the mornings, like I usually did, only I had recently been reading the newspapers. The headliner being that a whole family except for one girl, two years younger than myself and Alyss, three years younger than Zeala. Poor girl got labelled as cursed because her family was slaughtered and she was the only survivor. She was coming o this school as well, starting in third grade, because she went to a different school for the first two years. Kids of all ages were whispering about the newest new kid, who was cursed because her family was needlessly slaughtered. It really burned me up that she had only just entered the school gates, like I had minutes ago, and people were already talking about her like she was a fatal case of meningitis or Tuberculosis.

As I was mentally cursing every idiotically rude kid in this school, that poor girl passed me by. I turned and watched as her dark brown head disappeared into the third graders classroom, and sighed. Poor girl was gonna be outcast in that class, I just knew it.

……..

A week passed, and people were still talking about the 'cursed girl' who should leave the school before she dooms us all. I scoffed at every one of those rumours, and snapped at anyone who dared bring it up in front of me. Zeala, Alyss and I were headed to our usual spot for lunch, which happened to be an on campus lake. As we walked and chatted, Alyss suddenly pointed over to a spot near the lake shore.

"Isn't that the poor new girl?" She asked. I looked to where Alyss was pointing to see that it was indeed the new girl.

"I guess it is." I murmured, walking over to her, with Zeala and Alyss behind me.

"Hey, you're that freaky girl in third grade, right?" I asked curiously as I looked down at her where she sat. I gave her a warm smile, to show her that we weren't here to call her cursed.

The girl crossed her arms, closing her eyes as well. She looked out over the lake with her head held high.

"Who are you to ask me who I am? I don't need you, I don't need to know you, so why don't you just back off, okay?" She snapped. I grinned. How cute was this kid? I wouldn't say that out loud though, might offend her.

"AW! SHE'S SO ADORABLY SO NOT CUTE! How about you hang out with us, people won't dare write you up ever again if they see you hanging out with us fifth graders plus sixth grader, 'kay?" A slow smile crept its way along her lips. Then she nodded, before leaping and tackle hugging me to the ground, all four of us laughing…..

That's how I met my closest friends in the world. I know a lot of people, but I'm not social. I have a few other friends, but I don't trust them as much as Alyss, Viva and Zeala. The four of us are as close as anything. We argue, sure, but we always get over whatever it was we argued about, like whether the saying was 'home again, home again, jiggety jog' or 'home again, home again, bibbity bop'(Alyss and I both broke down into laughter halfway through the argument when I said 'We have the most random arguments, don't we?'). Over the years, we've become inseparable, and, in a way, we still are today.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I woke up on a, you guessed it folks, a hospital bed. Ah, the joys of life. Note the sarcasm. I groaned as the bright lights registered to my poor defenceless eyes.

"Curse whoever said hospitals should be white." I croaked, causing someone to gasp.

"ARTEMIS!!! YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!!!!" Then I felt a small, hyperactive body glomp me, causing me to groan.

"Who gave Viva coffee?" I asked as she jumped off of me.

"No one." Viva answered. I rolled my eyes

"Right~…..and you expect me to believe that Viv?" Viva mock glared, then raised her hands in defence.

"Hey, hey, hey! It was the weakest kind of Iced Coffee money can buy, okay!" I grinned. I win.

"Weak iced coffee or not Viv, it still has a mother load of caffeine in it, which is what usually makes people high." Viva growled and pouted in defeat. I grinned, then yawned, my eyes sliding shut slowly.

"Sleeeeeeepy, sleepy, sleepy." I murmured, too tired to continue keeping my eyes open for much longer. I heard several people in the room laugh a little, before Alyss and Kakashi ushered all of them out, or so I thought, until I registered distantly the familiar presence and chakra signature of Sasuke was still in the room. Soon after realising this, I felt the bed sink a little to my left, followed by a gentle, slightly calloused hand brush some of my hair back out of my face, rubbing my cheek softly. I smiled tiredly, cracking my eyes open a little bit.

"You know I'm still awake, right Sasuke?" He smirked as he ran his finger tips down my cheek then over my lips, which had me blinking curiously.

"Of course I knew, I've been trained for years to sense things like the difference in breathing when awake and asleep, as well as pulse, but I'm not daring enough to attempt to feel for an enemy's pulse." I grinned, chuckling dryly, before coughing a little. Sasuke helped me sit up a little, offering me a glass of water, which I gladly accepted. I took slow sips, so as not to make myself feel nauseous, before handing him the glass again and falling back onto the hospital bed.

My eyes slid to half mast for a moment, until my vision was filled with a pair of black irises, belonging of course, to one Sasuke Uchiha.

"You know, Art, technically, you've been released from the hospital since you only blacked out." I groaned. I didn't want to move, hospital beds are always surprisingly comfy.

"Don't wanna get up." I whined like the childish person I am. I regretted that when Sasuke suddenly smirked. I gulped in slight anticipation. Unfortunately for me, the next thing I know, I'm being slung over a broad shoulder by a muscular arm. I growled and thumped Sasuke's back with my fists.

"Put me down you brute! I can walk!" I heard Sasuke chuckle before he gently set me down, and I vaguely noticed that his hands were still around my waist, but, at the present moment, I was too busy trying to be pissed off with him.

I say trying, because, well, let's just say that if you're me, it's very hard to glare at a smiling Sasuke. As in, genuine smiling Sasuke. As in, never seen in the anime series in my world smiling Sasuke. I blinked sluggishly and blushed slightly as he smiled down at me.

"So, are you going to go home, or do I have to pick you up again?" I mock glared at him and gently broke out of his hold and brushed past him, my tail slightly brushing his arm as I walked out of the hospital room, with him following behind me.

As we walked, I lost myself in thought again. Everything seemed to be happening so fast, to all of us. And I was also deeply worried about my friends' wellbeing, Viva's in particular. I could read my friends like a book for some reason, and, to me, it seemed as if Viva was slowly losing herself, like I had heard happened to other Jinchuuriki vessels who denied having another entity living within them. I wasn't like Zeala with her premonitions, but I had a sickening gut feeling that Viva would slowly become insane. When, I didn't know, the how would be because of her demon, Evaan, who seemed to easily be taking control of Viva's physical body whenever it pleased her – I had heard about the bird eating episode via Kakashi – and, for some reason, it looked as if Evaan could also control what Viva did on the rare occasion.

In short, I was terrified about what could and maybe even will happen to Viva in the future. I sighed in sadness, slowing to a halt in the middle of the bustling street Sasuke and I were walking along. I felt Sasuke walk up beside me and turn to face me. I sighed shakily.

"Sasuke, I'm worried, terrified even. It may not be a strong feeling, nor a premonition like Zeala's, but I'm absolutely terrified of what will happen to my friends and I in the future, Viva especially. I feel like Viva's losing herself. She's not the Viva I knew before we arrived here." I let out a shaky sigh, running my fingers through my hair, and brushing over the tigers ears poking up from my shock of black hair.

What should I do? I'm lost, Sasuke. Lost, and terrified." I murmured, turning to face him as tears filled my eyes. I choked back a sob, feeling a pair of strong arms wrap around my body. Sasuke rubbed my back soothingly as I cried silently, trying hard not to sob uncontrollably.

After I had finally calmed down, I smiled up at Sasuke only to wince as an annoying voice suddenly filled our ears.

"Oh my God, Sasuke, is that you? I haven't seen you in ages!" I winced repeatedly, turning around to face aforeheard squealer, my eye twitching as I noticed she had a head of purple hair, and wore the Konoha forehead protector. She stopped in front of us, smiling fakely at me, and smiling lustfully at Sasuke. I twitched visibly. Who in all Hell is this girl?

I turned my head with a confused hum as Zeala silently appeared beside me. I smiled happily.

"Hey Z, what's up?" I asked, as Sasuke turned towards her also, ignoring the purple haired girl. Zeala smirked down at me.

"Pretty good. You pass your surprise exam?" I nodded.

"Lemme guess, you were ambushed while 'babysitting' one of the civilian children?" Z nodded.

I shook my head, smiling.

"Honestly, Tsunade needs to be more original than tha-AT!" I squealed as I was suddenly glomped from behind, causing me to land on the dirt road. I growled, pushing Viva off of me. Viva grinned sheepishly.

"Viva, you better start running because I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!!!!!" Viva squeaked and hid behind Zeala, who was currently laughing along with Sasuke. I huffed moodily, brushing the dirt off of my clothing. Damn, it was stinking hot today. Suddenly, I saw Alyss and Kakashi walking towards us. I grinned and ran the short distance to them, glomping Alyss happily. Alyss squeaked in surprise, laughing as I jumped off of her, grinning in that way of mine.

"You passed didn't you?" I asked, grinning from ear-to-ear as Alyss nodded. I squealed happily and hugged Alyss again.

"Yay! We're all gonna be Chuunin together!" I started doing a little happy dance until our moment was ended by the purple haired girl who was still in the vicinity….