Chapter Twelve
A shrill, high-pitched whistle blasted seemingly next to my ear, rudely dragging all us sleeping girls from our slumber.
"Aughh!" we all shrieked, sitting up in bed, those on the bottom bunks whacking their head in the process.
"Alright you maggots!" Deidara yelled. "Get your lazy butts out of bed and over to the training field! Un!"
"Deidara Senpai!" we all screeched, scrambling and trying to cover our scantily clad selves.
What? It was really hot that night, so most of us ended up sleeping in boxer shorts and camis, some tighter than others.
"What are you doing in here?" Sakura demanded.
"Think, Sakura…" Deidara said, leaning casually against the doorway and swinging the whistle by its chord around his finger. "Remember the year before, when everyone was woken up in a similar fashion? Un?"
"Deidara, it's six AM and we aren't dressed. Out!" Kurenai yelled, throwing a shoe at the blond and hitting him square in the forehead.
"Ow! Jeez, Kurenai. It's not like I was taking a peek at you! Asuma would kill me, un!" Deidara muttered, rubbing his forehead, making the rest of us girls giggle while Kurenai grew red with embarrassment and rage.
Deidara smirked, knowing he hit a nerve, and winked at us.
Kurenai threw the other shoe at his head, bopping him in the nose. Deidara muttered curses and grabbed the door, shielding himself with it. "Squirt, come outside when you're done. Tobi will escort you, un."
Then he was gone, followed by a still-angry Kurenai, and all the girls turned to stare at me.
"Ooh! You're meeting up with Deidara Senpai!" Ino cooed, giggling.
I scowled. "What's with the giggles?"
"Andi," Sakura said, shaking her head. "You do know that purpling is forbidden, right?"
"Sakura, I have no idea what you're talking about," I said honestly, rolling out of bed and rummaging through my clothes.
"Hmm," Tenten said, getting up as well. "Relationships with other campers is one thing, but relationships between a counselor and a camper…that's just terrible!"
I tripped over my own feet and slammed my forehead into the locker. "Ow! Anak ng puta!" I swore, using a few choice words in Tagalog that I picked up from my mother whenever she burnt herself in the kitchen. I shook my head, rubbing my face.
I pulled my bra on and then pulled my cami off, a skill I've mastered, and yanked my tank top on before whirling on the girls. "What are you talking about?"
"You and Deidara Senpai have a secret relationship!" Ino declared. "That's why you're always off talking to him, or missing in the early morning!"
"That happened, what? Twice? And we're not in a secret relationship! What would make you think that?" I exclaimed, hopping around on one foot while I attempted to put shorts on.
The girls just shrugged.
"They have a point…Andi…" Hinata said, poking her fingers together. "You could get in a lot of trouble…"
"Guys! I am not involved with Deidara Senpai!" I exclaimed.
"Whoa! You're involved with Deidara?" Temari asked, strolling into the cabin. "Mm…I'd have gone with Sasori, but not a bad choice, Squirt…"
I groaned and slid my socks and sneakers on before heading out of the cabin. They just wouldn't listen to reason.
"Hello, Andi-chan!" Tobi said, waving to me and grinning goofily. "Ready to go help Deidara Senpai?"
I nodded as I bent at the waist, gathering all my hair up and tying it on a ponytail a little above my neck. "Yup. More clay stuff?" I asked as I straightened up again and pushed some of the loose strands of my bangs out of my face.
I don't want bangs, really, but back in November, Marian and I were super bored during one of our home school sessions, and I somehow managed to get a comb stuck in my hair. And we couldn't get it out. No matter what we tried.
We tried baby oil, conditioner, water…you name it! But it was completely stuck, so we had to cut my hair to get it out. So on the left, front chunk of hair went to a little below my eyes, so to even it out, my sister chopped the other section off on my right side!
It took seven months, but now my bangs reach a little below my chin. Yeah, my hair grows surprisingly fast…
Anyway, now that I've explained my unwanted haircut, we can now get back to the story.
Tobi nodded. "Yeah. Deidara Senpai has more evil genius plans! …At least, that's what Senpai told me," he said as the two of us walked across the clearing toward the pond. "His plans tend to blow up in his face."
I snorted and started laughing. "Haha, good one, Tobi-san!"
Tobi grinned at me before pushing a branch out of the way, gesturing for me to go ahead. I grinned at him in thanks and walked on ahead, already knowing my way to Deidara's cabin by now.
"So, Andi-chan…" Tobi said, catching up to me after successfully snapping the tree branch on himself. "Do you like spending time with Deidara Senpai and Tobi?"
I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you guys are fun. Besides, it's not like I have anything else to do at six in the morning…" I yawned. "Speaking of which, why were we all woken up an hour early?"
Tobi smiled briefly at me before returning his gaze ahead of us. "Every other year, during this two-week-session, we host this thing called the Chuunin Exams," he said. "It's a very special event, and we all get trained for it!"
"Chuunin Exams, eh? What are those?" I asked curiously.
"Well…" Tobi said, scratching his chin. "It's like a competition with kids from Elite Schools, open even to those who don't go to camp."
"What kind of competition? Like a soccer game, paintball war, what…?" I asked.
"Oh, um…it's a ninja competition," Tobi said with a shrug. "We use the skills we learned at camp and at school!"
"…Ninja…competition? But Tobi-san! I have, like, zero ninja skills!" I exclaimed, tugging at the bottom of my tank top.
Tobi chuckled and patted my head. "Don't worry, Andi-chan. The Exams aren't until Wednesday! We'll be training everyone all Monday and Tuesday!"
"I'm so screwed. I'm gonna get my assed kick by Elite Ninjas…" I muttered, shaking my head in despair.
"You'll be fine, Andi-chan. Oh! We're here!" Tobi exclaimed, grabbing my wrist and tugging me into Deidara's cabin. "Senpai! We're here!"
"Perfect timing. Hold this, Squirt. Un," he said, handing me a lump of clay before jumping onto his top bunk and rummaging through the stuff on top of it. Clearly the top bunk was meant for storage and not sleeping…
I glanced down at the figurine in my hand and brought it to my face to examine it more closely. It was a simple ball with markings that looked like stitching; a baseball. It was so finely detailed; I would've thought it was a real baseball if it hadn't had the texture and smell of clay.
"Um…Deidara Senpai? Why am I holding a clay baseball?" I asked, tossing it back and forth between both hands.
"It's my newest creation," Deidara said, sitting up and holding up a satchel of clay victoriously before clambering off of the bed. "You ever play baseball? Un?"
I shrugged and tossed the clay ball to an eager Tobi. "Yeah, back in grade school we played it during gym class. Why?"
"Because," he said, reaching behind a locker and pulling out three baseball bats. "We're gonna have some fun with Danna."
Within ten minutes, at about six twenty AM, Tobi, Deidara and I were standing at the edge of the dock, buckets of clay baseballs at our feet and baseball bats in our hands.
Sasori's cabin was about fifty feet away from the edge of the dock, making it an easy target.
"Rise and shine, Sasori no Danna!" Deidara yelled, tossing a clay ball up into the air before swinging his bat and meeting it midair, sending it flying toward Sasori's cabin.
BOOM!
Tobi and I flinched at the explosion and sound of breaking glass as the impact of the explosion broke Sasori's window.
An extremely tired and annoyed looking Sasori came running out of his cabin clad in nothing but boxers and black, rectangular glasses that he was just pulling on, his messy red hair even messier looking than usual since he had just woken up. "You little brat! What the hell are you doing?" Sasori demanded, standing at the edge of the dock on his side of the pond.
Deidara just snickered and turned to me and Tobi. "Fire away, un!"
Tobi and I smirked and nodded and also began sending clay baseballs flying Sasori's direction, sending him retreating back into his cabin.
"We win, Senpai! We win!" Tobi exclaimed, dancing with his baseball bat.
"Not yet…" Deidara murmured.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
As if on cue, Sasori came back out of his cabin, now wearing a shirt in addition to his boxers and glasses, dragging a large, wheeled box with him. He reached inside and pulled out wood with some purple substance on it and some of the dreaded chum.
"You'll pay for this, brat," he said quietly and threateningly, so quiet that we had to strain our ears to hear. Though I wish I didn't, since his threatening voice sent tingles of fear down my spine.
"Keep firing!" Deidara yelled, tossing his bat onto the dock and opting to chuck the baseballs at Sasori. Tobi and I nodded, doing likewise.
Sasori counterattacked by throwing his assortment of weapons at us.
"Ouch!" I exclaimed as the wood struck my bare arm. But it wasn't the wood that really hurt me.
The purple substance stung my arms, upper chest and neck, leaving small red welts. "Senpai! What is this?" I exclaimed, tugging on Deidara's jacket sleeve.
He spared me a glance and his eyes widened. "Shit! That's poison that Danna makes. It's not life-threatening, but wherever it hits will be stinging for a while…Un."
"Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!" I exclaimed, rubbing the welts. "This stings!"
Deidara and Tobi glared. "Why would you hit a girl, un?" Deidara demanded, chucking more clay.
"She shouldn't have gotten involved!" Sasori yelled, swinging one of his wooden things at the clay ball and sending it right back to us.
"Oh-" Tobi gasped.
"Shit," Deidara and I finished for him.
The clay ball exploded right by us, setting off the rest of the clay in the buckets, breaking the section of the dock that we were standing on and sending us into the water.
"Senpai! Senpai! Save Tobi!" Tobi exclaimed, clinging to the blond like his life depended on it.
"Tobi! Stand up! Un!" Deidara exclaimed, standing up to reveal that the water went only to about halfway up his chest and to the tip of my chin.
Tobi, his legs wound around Deidara's waist and his arms around Deidara's neck, released his Senpai and dropped into the water with a splash before standing up again. "Oh!"
"Let's just get out of here before the snapping turtle gets us," I muttered, squeezing the water out of my ponytail and tank top, which was beginning to get a little see-through.
"That was fun!" Tobi exclaimed, running to the shore and splashing Deidara and myself in the process. I flinched as the droplets struck my welts, making them sting all the more.
Deidara patted my head. "You're alright, Squirt," he said.
I looked up at Deidara and gave him a small, half-grin in reply.
His eyes traveled to my neck, and he bit his lip. "Hmm, you're gonna want to put something on that," he said, poking the one in the spot where my neck meets my collarbone. "Clay is actually a pretty good remedy. Un."
I nodded and shook myself off as we got out of the pond. "Alright. Mind if I have some clay, Senpai?"
Deidara nodded and we walked over to his cabin, where Tobi had begun drying off using Deidara's blanket, seriously pissing Deidara off even more.
My eyes widened at the sight of a shirtless Tobi. Even that boy trapped in a man's body was super built? I glanced down at myself and frowned. I really need to work out so I can be like the rest of these guys…
"Here," Deidara said, pulling his own jacket and shirt off and tossing them away before pulling on a large, dry tee. He walked over to me and grabbed below my chin, tilting my head back. He rubbed some wet clay on my neck and upper arms and upper chest, being careful not to irritate the welts.
"Thanks," I said. "…It's not going to explode, is it?" I asked worriedly.
Deidara laughed. "No. This isn't explosive clay. I made this type of clay specifically for this purpose, since Danna tends to get me with his poison pretty often…"
"Senpai, can Tobi have some?" Tobi asked, tilting his head to the side and pulling on one of Deidara's shirts, much to the blond's annoyance.
Deidara sighed and nodded, patting me on the shoulder before walking over to Tobi and handing him the clay. "You're a man, right? You can spread it on you yourself. Un," Deidara said, sitting on a chair and spreading the clay on himself as well.
Tobi began spreading the clay and humming a tuneless little song all the while.
When he was satisfied with his little plaster of clay, Tobi turned to me and grinned. "In five minutes, we'll wash the clay off and then Deidara Senpai will take you back to the cabin!"
I nodded and sat down. "Okay."
"Where have you been?" Tenten demanded as I waved good bye to Deidara. "And what happened to your neck?"
"Eh…poison ivy," I muttered, walking past her and into the cabin in search of dry clothes.
Sakura and Ino gasped. "Deidara Senpai gave you like a million hickeys!"
I stiffened before slamming my head into my locker…numerous times. "They are not hickeys. They are welts from poison…ivy," I said, taking my tank top off and pulling on a dry one.
The door opened and slammed shut, and we all turned to see a still-cranky Kurenai. "Stupid Deidara lad me through the woods, and I lost him…" she muttered, pulling a twig out of her hair. She glanced up at us. "So what happened while I was chasing the idiot and getting stuck?"
"Oh, well, we just talked and got ready and stuff," Tenten said, glancing at me.
"Yeah, I watched them for you, Kurenai Sensei," Temari said, raising her hand.
Kurenai sighed and nodded before beginning to brush her hair. "Thank you, Temari. As you can see, I'm not ready yet, and I won't be for a while. Could you take the girls to morning ceremony for me?"
"Sure thing!" Temari said, grinning before turning to smirk at us. "Let's go, ladies," she said, parading us out the door.
As soon as the door was closed the girls surrounded me, demanding to know what was going on between me and Deidara. As much as I wanted to tell them about the explosions and battle with Sasori, Deidara had sworn me to secrecy.
"Guys, guys! We didn't do anything. He just needed my help, ah, preparing for class. Tobi accidentally kicked something and sent it flying into a patch of poison ivy, so I was sent in to get it, okay?" I said, hoping they'd buy it.
"Poison ivy?" Naruto asked as he and his cabin and Kakashi joined us. Kakashi wasn't paying attention to a word we were saying, though, since his nose was buried in a book. "But, Andi," Naruto said. "You're not allergic to poison ivy. Remember on the hike? You trampled through it and didn't get affected at all!"
My ears burned red as the girls turned to look at me again, disbelief and doubt on their face.
"Holy damn what happened to your neck?" Kiba asked, pointing. He glanced at Kankuro as he and his cabin joined us. "Did someone have a little fun with you last night?"
"No! You guys want to know what happened? Really?" I asked, frustrated. They nodded.
"Deidara Senpai is having me help him in his battle against Sasori no Danna," I said. "There was a battle early this morning, and I was stuck and hit in the crossfire."
"…So…you're not secretly dating Deidara Senpai?" Temari asked.
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"Are you posi-?"
"Yes, I'm positive!" I exclaimed. "Now…can we go to the blacktop for morning ceremony already?"
"Yeah, I'm starving," Choji said. "Sooner we get to morning ceremony, the sooner we eat!"
And just like that, the mood was lightened and the Andi-Deidara discussion was dropped.
"So our first class is canoeing?" I asked Kankuro as we made our way to the pond after breakfast.
Kankuro shook his head. "Nope. It's fishing."
I almost tripped over my own feet. Fishing? Sasori no Danna was gonna kill me!
"Welcome to fishing," Sasori said as we arrived at the dock; well, what was left of it.
"What happened here?" Naruto asked, staring and pointing at the dock. "Half of the dock is missing!"
"Well…" Sasori began, glaring at me from the corner of his eye. I swallowed and inched myself behind Gaara. "There was an…incident, earlier this morning, that damaged the dock."
"What are you doing?" Gaara murmured, turning his head to face me.
"Hiding," I whispered back. "Shh."
"Alright," Sasori said, clearing his throat for attention, silencing the gossiping Sakura and Ino. "Let's just get started on fishing, alright?"
"But the do-" Naruto began.
"I don't want to talk about it," Sasori said, fiercely cutting Naruto off. "Bait your lines and start fishing."
"You should listen to him, un!" Deidara yelled, sitting in a canoe in the middle of the pond. "Sasori no Danna is a real Master Baiter!"
Kankuro, Kiba, Naruto and I struggled to keep a straight face as Sasori's face slowly became a similar color to his hair. The others were either edging away from his wrath or groaning or shaking their heads in disgust.
"Seikō baai wa, kozō!" Sasori yelled, shaking his fist. He picked up the thing nearest him and loaded it onto the catapult that we had used during the battle. He aimed and pushed the button, sending chum and fish guts raining down on the terrified looking Deidara.
Deidara shrieks were cut off when a rather large chunk of chum landed in his mouth.
"I'd feel bad for him," Tenten said to me, "but he totally deserved that."
"Yeah, but you have to admit," Kankuro said. "What Deidara Senpai said was hilarious!"
"Did you say something, brat?" Sasori asked, turning on Kankuro.
"N-no! Sorry, Sasori no Danna," he said, joining me behind Gaara.
"Guys, knock it off," Gaara said, sidestepping to the left. Kankuro and I did likewise, trying to remain hidden, but it really doesn't work out if you're bigger and taller than Gaara, like Kankuro was.
Sasori smirked. "Would you like to join Deidara in the pond?" he asked, gesturing over his shoulder at the frantically swimming Deidara.
"No, that's okay, Danna," Kankuro said.
Sasori nodded and turned away. "Oh, screw it," he said, marching over to us.
I never thought I'd see a guy nearly as short and thin as me pick up a guy as tall and large as Kankuro and hurl him into a lake. But I did, and Naruto, Kiba and I soon followed after Kankuro.
Note to self. Do not piss Sasori no Danna off…
"Class with Itachi is tripled today," Sasuke said, bent at the waist and touching his toes with his fingertips.
"Uh-huh…" I said with a nod, leaning against a tree. "Is there a reason that you're stretching?"
Sasuke straightened and rolled his shoulders before nodding. "Yeah. We'll be training for the Chuunin Exams."
"I am so excited!" Lee yelled, hanging from a tree branch by his legs and pulling his body up over and over again at a ridiculously high speed. "I shall win and bring honor to Konohagakure High!"
"Not if Suna beats you," Gaara said, sitting near my feet at the base of the tree.
"Suna could never beat Konoha!" Naruto said, grinning and doing pull-ups on the same tree branch that Lee was hanging from.
"Which school are you going to represent, Andi?" Hinata asked, sitting on the ground in a perfect split. "Since, you know, you're not from an Elite School…"
"I have to compete? I thought I'd be off the hook since I'm not from an Elite School!" I exclaimed.
"As if," Kiba said with an eyeroll. "Every camper is involved! …You'll represent Konoha, right?"
"No way!" Kankuro exclaimed, dropping down from the tree branch he was working out on. "Andi is Temari's replacement, so she's with us," he said, slinging an arm around my shoulder.
"I really don't care which school I represent…" I shrugged.
"Suna it is!" Temari said, coming out of nowhere, as usual, and patting me on the head.
"Aw, great," Naruto muttered. "First Sasuke represents Oto, now Andi is representing Suna…"
"It's not like I have a choice in the matter, dobe," Sasuke muttered. "It's not like I want to go to Oto High with Orochimaru…"
"Settle down," Itachi said, silently emerging from the trees. "We will now begin our training for the Chuunin exams.
"Twenty more push-ups, let's go!" Temari yelled, crouching on the ground beside me and yelling in my ear.
"Jeez, woman, stop yelling!" I grunted, doing the push-ups, immediately grateful for all the soccer practices and off-ice hockey sessions. If it weren't for those, I'd probably be dead or something…
"You're representing Suna!" Kankuro yelled. "Let's move, Squirt!"
"I don't see you doing pushups!" I exclaimed.
He shrugged. "I don't do that kind of combat."
My trembling arms gave way beneath me, and I fell onto the soft grass but still managed to get my breath knocked out of me.
"What do you mean?" I asked, sitting up and rubbing my stomach.
"I, Squirt, use wooden weapons to fight my opponents. So far, we don't know your strong point, so we're just gonna train you until we find that strong point," Kankuro said, rolling his shoulders.
"Is there a less….murderous way to find out?" I mumbled, my face in the grass.
Temari shrugged. "Well…you seemed to have a pretty good control over katanas… But who could train you in that? Itachi-san's specialty, aside from intimidation, is hand to hand combat…" she trailed off, thinking.
I forced myself into a sitting position and looked around at our little training area. Kiba, Naruto, Shino, Sakura, Hinata, Shikamaru, Ino and Choji were with Itachi, being trained in various ways as the rookies representing Konoha High.
Apparently only kids fifteen and sixteen can compete in the exams while the rest of the campers watch. Neji, Lee and Tenten were being trained by Gai for some reason, even though he's a cabin counselor.
Not that it matters, really. Camp counselors really don't do much.
In fact, Asuma and Kurenai are sleeping under a tree while Kakashi reads his pervy book…
Sasuke was off training by himself, since the Oto High people hadn't arrived yet, and Temari was training me, Kankuro and Gaara…mainly me.
"Kisame-san!" Temari exclaimed suddenly.
"What about him?" I asked, reaching behind my head and pulling my ponytail out, due to the headache it gave me. I shook my head and fluffed my hair, trying to fix it before tying it off into two braids.
"He's a master swordsman," Temari said. "We'll get him to teach you, since he probably doesn't care about Kirigakure High, since he did transfer from there to Konoha during his junior year…"
"That's not stalker-ish or anything," Kankuro muttered sarcastically.
"Hey! It was part of my initiation!" Temari said. "If I wanted in on the counselor staff without being pranked by Deidara-san, Hidan-san or Tobi-san, I had to memorize and be quizzed on the Akatsuki members' backgrounds!"
Kankuro and I exchanged glances. "Definitely stalker-ish," I said with a nod.
That comment received me a smack on the back of the head, compliments of Temari. "Andi! Don't you go agreeing with my brother! Now stay here while I find Kisame-san."
I nodded, grateful for the break.
"But you better have completed fifty sit-ups by the time I get back!"
…Or not.
I groaned and fell onto my back, staring up into the clouds which were partially blocking the sun, providing a nice, shaded little area.
"Well, get moving, Squirt," Kankuro said, lying beside me and getting into the sit-up position, his hands folded behind his head.
"Yeah, whatever," I mumbled, placing my hands at my side and drawing my knees up. I pulled the upper half of my body up until my chest nearly bumped my knees before going back down and repeating.
Sit-ups were no big deal, really. We did those all the time in soccer and hockey, so I was used to it.
"Aren't you gonna put your hands behind your head?" Kankuro asked, grunting.
I shook my head and let my breathing get in sync with the sit-ups. "No. Coach never let us. He said it was cheating, so I'm used to doing it this way."
"Hmm," Kankuro said, attempting it that way, but giving up and resorting back to folding his hands behind his head. "I hate sit-ups."
I chuckled a bit, but stopped since it was messing with my breathing. "Hey. Gaara. Why aren't you doing sit-ups?"
Gaara rolled his eyes. "You'll see on Wednesday," he stated.
"…Okay…"
"So, Squirt, I hear from Temari that you seem to have a skill with katanas?" Kisame said, making it sound more like a question.
I shrugged. "Apparently so. I hear you're a pro with a sword."
Kisame grinned a sharky grin and pulled out the wrapped thing from behind his back.
"That is a big tampon," I said with a smirk.
Cue smack on the back of the head from Temari.
Kisame didn't seem to mind though. In fact, he laughed. "You're not so bad, kid. But no, this is not a tampon. It's my sword!"
My eyes widened as he whipped the white bandages off of it to reveal the craziest looking sword I had ever seen. The blade was blue and jagged, looking more like numerous, small blades combined than one large blade.
"This…" Kisame said, pointing to the blade. "…is Samehada, my sword, also known as Sharkskin. It doesn't slice; it cuts you to ribbons!"
My eyes widened all the more and I took a step back.
Kisame laughed and rewrapped his sword. "But…I was banned from using it on campers while unwrapped, so you're safe," he said with a toothy grin.
"O-oh…well, that's a relief," I said, scratching the back of my head.
Kisame grinned again. "Well, let's get your training started!"
I ducked my head, only to jump a second later to avoid getting my feet knocked out from under me. I dropped to my knees and rolled to my right and jumped back up, hearing the wind whistling to the left of my ear as Kisame swung Samehada downward.
Kisame swung, and I leaned back, the tip of Samehada barely missing me.
In one fluid movement, Kisame swung his sword around and nicked my shoulder with the hilt, throwing me off balance and knocking me to the ground, where I landed flat on my back.
My eyes widened and I rolled to the left as Samehada landed with a thud where I had been lying previously.
It swung down on me again, and I brought my katana up to defend myself.
Kisame was much stronger than me, so my arms dropped considerably and the swords were barely brushing my chest. With a grunt, I threw my arms forward and sent Kisame stumbling a few steps backward.
I jumped onto my feet and slapped the flat edge of my katana against Kisame's knuckles and fingers, making him wince a bit.
"Ow! Cheap shot, kid," Kisame said, shaking his head at me.
I gave him a guilty smile as we both lowered our weapons. "Sorry, Kisame Senpai…"
Yeah, Kisame wants me to start calling him Senpai…
"Sucker!" Kisame laughed, jabbing the rounded tip of his blade into my stomach, knocking me to the ground.
"Oof!" I grunted as my breath left me again and I landed hard on my ass. "Not cool, Kisame Senpai!"
He chuckled and extended a hand, helping me up. He placed a blue hand on my head and ruffled my hair. "You need to keep an eye out for cheap shots. Oto and Kusa are notorious for cheap shots."
I sighed. "Yes sir."
He grinned. "Alright, good. Let's go again."
I crouched and raised my katana, ready to continue training.
"Need…water…and…ice…" I moaned, slowly dragging my feet.
"Keep running, Squirt," Kisame said, spinning and running backwards so he was facing me. "I'm backwards and I'm still faster than you!"
"You have longer legs!" I said, slowly picking up my pace.
"Come on, we've only done five miles! Two more to go!" he said, spinning back around and taking off at full speed.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" I groaned, shaking my head and struggling to catch up.
Normally running five miles wouldn't be so bad…if I were running with my team. With Kisame, a full grown, twenty-some year old man with really long legs is very different. He's faster than people my age…much faster.
"So, how was your training?" Lee asked, rewrapping his forearms, wrists and hands with white bandages. "I hope you found it youthful and invigorating!"
"I found it torturous and murderous…" I mumbled, leaning back against the tree and repositioning my ice pack. "But other than that, it was fun."
"You're lucky that Kisame-san is training you," Tenten said, slurping on some water while bandaging her legs. "He is the best swordsman I know!"
"He's not a bad slave-driver either," I said with a half-grin.
Neji tilted his head to the side. "Is he really that bad?"
I shook my head. "Naw, I'm just exaggerating…kinda. But I haven't had this intense of a workout since…well, since Coach McGill had my hockey team train with the Mercyhurst Boys Varsity Team…"
"And it's only the first day," Kankuro said with a yawn. "Man, Temari got even harsher once you left, Squirt."
"What do you mean?" I asked, rolling and cracking my neck with a contented sigh.
"She made me do push-ups and sit-ups and jumping-jacks and so on," Gaara said, arms folded across his chest and leaning against the tree opposite mine.
I raised my eyebrows. "Wow."
"What is taking those rookies so long?" Kankuro asked, propping his feet up on my knees. "I'm starving for dinner!"
I pushed his feet off of me, ignoring his grunt of pain, and shrugged. "How should I know? I only just got here."
"Hey guys!" Sakura yelled, waving at us as she and the rest of the rookies made their way over to us. "How was training?"
"Wonderful," we all replied, Lee more enthusiastically than the rest of us.
"How was it for you?" Lee asked.
"It was great! But…Naruto over-worked himself again," she said, looking sympathetically at Naruto. The sympathy in her eyes soon vanished as she shook her head and returned her gaze to us. "Have you seen Sasuke?"
Gaara tilted his head upward, and we all looked up to see Sasuke reclining on the tree branch of the tree Gaara was leaning against. "Hey," he said with a wave.
"Sasuke!" Ino and Sakura waved. "How long have you been up there?"
"I just got here," he said, dropping down. "I was planning on surprising the dobe, but Gaara blew my cover," he shrugged.
"Teme," Naruto muttered, rubbing his shoulder.
"Here, Naruto…" Hinata said, handing Naruto a small bottle of what looked like ointment.
"Thanks, Hinata!" Naruto said, grinning at her, oblivious to her blush.
Kiba, on the other hand, noticed it. "You're blushing," he said, poking her cheek with a smirk.
Hinata looked away and sat down beside me.
I patted her on the head. Naruto would realize her affection for him sooner or later…most likely later, though. That boy really was oblivious…
"Ugh, the Chuunin Exams are such a drag…" Shikamaru muttered, folding his hands behind his head.
"Why do you even have them?" I asked curiously.
"To strengthen our bond with the other Elite Schools," Sakura said with a shrug. "And you have to be a Chuunin to become a counselor-in-training, and then a counselor."
"So…Temari is a Chuunin?" I asked.
They nodded.
"Of course, if you become a Chuunin, it isn't required to become a counselor-in-training; that is totally optional. But it is required to be a Chuunin before becoming a counselor-in-training," Ino explained, stretching her long, slender legs.
"Hmm," I said with a nod.
"Are we all here?" Shino asked, looking around.
We all glanced around before nodding. "Yup. We're just missing the counselors," Kiba said.
"Present!" Asuma said, breathing smoke out of his mouth as he and Kakashi and Kurenai approached us. "Have good training sessions?"
We all just nodded as we stood up and walked over to them, ready for dinner.
"I'm glad you did!" Asuma said, beaming at us.
Kurenai grinned while Kakashi nodded.
"Tomorrow's training session will be even tougher!" Asuma added.
Oh…the joy…