Ch. 21: Out of a Tree
I opened my eyes groggily, trying to figure out where I was why everything smelled so strongly of antiseptic. Wait. White—beds—bright lights—antiseptic—…right. The infirmary.
Sure enough, when my vision unblurred, I could see med-nins bustling about. And by my bed, there were Yumi, Washi, Kaida, Kazu, Deki, Tsuba—wait. Deki.
"I'm so sorry Deki! Did I do it? Are you okay? Shoot shoot shoot—"
"Calm down, Tomoko. Remember? I promised I'd stop you."
"Right. Thanks, Tsubasa…"
Ayuka, the med-nin from before, came up behind Tsubasa. "Update."
"She just remembered what happened. Wait—what the Hokage and I discuss?"
"Umm… yeah… about that… I kinda zoned out…"
"That's the truth. How else do you think she did that stuff with the door?" Kazu asked.
"Yep—that's our Tomoko. Her most genius moments are when she spaces out or her head is in the clouds," Yumi added.
"Thanks," I muttered.
"You're welcome!"
"Riku-san, I took the liberty of using the Sharingan Disk to wake up Roshimi-san. I hope you do not mind."
Roshimi? Oh, right, opponent, big spear…
"Of course not, actually, I have two things to ask. First of all—wait, no, three things. First, did you check up Washi?" I asked, somewhat apologetic that I had forgotten until now.
"Yes, he will be just fine."
"Thank god. Now, how can you hold the Disk?"
"I keep a thin layer of chakra between it and my hands. Kind of like a glove."
"Alright," I responded, storing the information for later. "And now—may I please apologize to Roshimi-san?"
"Of course. And it may also interest you that the matches are over for today, and one of Shimi-san's water clones picked a number for you."
"Oh, I'll ask him about it later. So where is Roshimi-san?"
"Head right on over, Bed 3."
Having already brought myself to a sitting position, I slung my legs over the edge of the bed, stood up, shouted, "Race you!" and started running not even waiting for my friends to comprehend what I said.
And, of course, even with the head start…
Kazu beat me.
We attempted to be good sports about it by seriously shaking hands and saying, "Good game," but we failed miserably at that. I mean, at being serious, especially after one of the nurses turned to tell us 'Shh' but tripped and shrieked really loudly instead. Kazu caught her, but it was still really funny.
I finally turned toward the occupant of the bed and was met with a vacant stare. My mood immediately turned somber.
"I am so sorry, Roshimi-san. I didn't mean to do what I did—"
"It's fine," he said flatly.
"No, it's not, and I'd like to make it up to you. Is there any way I can?"
"Can you heal a broken childhood?" he deadpanned.
"No," I replied, somewhat annoyed that he was already so intent on keeping me from helping him.
"Then there's nothing you can do."
"Will my apology be sufficient?" I asked, trying to keep my language formal and polite. "I know it wouldn't be for me."
"Just go away and leave me alone," he replied, turning his face in the other direction.
"If that's what you want," I said, trying not to scowl in annoyance. "I hope we can still be friends though." I gave him a small smile.
He smiled back. A real smile.
I nodded in acknowledgment and turned to go, but couldn't help humming a few strains of one of the catchy happy songs I heard at the park.
"Wait!" I turned in question. "Actually, the med-nin said I may have slight insomnia, so…could you…maybe…help?"
"Of course!" I smiled widely at his uncomfortable expression. I mentally ran through my repertoire, then decided on one of the other songs I heard at the park open mike.
Two minutes later, Reiko was snoring softly.
"Well, I guess we'll leave now."
"I'm staying with him and Atsuko," Tsubasa informed us.
"Just—make sure he knows he's appreciated," I told Tsubasa.
"You're an old softie, aren't you, Tomoko?"
"My name does mean 'one who is friendly', you know." I shrugged.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Well, see ya around!"
"Yeah, sure."
Tsubasa waved 'bye' as we turned to leave, and after checking in with a nurse that it was, indeed, okay for me to leave, we exited the building. I greeted the sun with a smile and a spin.
"So, Deki, what number did you pick out for me?"
"You're number six."
"What about the rest of you? Except for you, sorry Kaida."
"No hard feelings. One of the best battles of my life, actually."
"Two."
"Huh?"
"I'm number two."
"Oh, okay Washi. Deki?"
"Three."
"Kazu?"
"I'm three too."
"Oh."
"Nah, I'm just messing with you. I'm number five."
"Dorothy?"
"I'm number six."
"I see. Seriously?" She nodded. "Oh well. Tie, here we come!"
"Tie?"
"Yeah, you're right, only if you're lucky, 'CUZ I AM AWESOME!"
"Tomoko, you're really strange."
"Thank you, Yumi!"
"Again, not a compliment."
"Again, you'd be insulting yourself, right?"
A moment passed and we all laughed.
After we all stopped laughing, we continued down the road, amazing by the sights and smells.
"It's so different from Kiri," Kaida commented."
"Yeah, I know. I can actually see all the way down the street!" I laughed while Washi and Deki started arguing about something like usual.
I attempted a cartwheel, but failed since we weren't in the middle of battle. Sad, right? But, again, I failed and stood up from the ground, dusty and a little dizzy. I stumbled my way over to a tree, and leaned up against it as my friends caught up, Yumi giggling and Kazu smiling as Deki ignored Washi, like always. I guess Deki lost the argument for once.
Then I just about had a heart attack when somebody fell out of the tree and landed not two feet away from me. After I recovered from my shock, I looked up to see two girls, my age, from the Leaf, both giggling. The one with honey-brown hair said, "Pachowie!"
The one with dark brown, curly hair grinned and called down, "Sorry!" to the boy in front of me who was just sitting up.
"Here." I held out my hand to the guy and helped pull him up. "I'm Tomoko, Riku Tomoko. Who are you?"
"Uzuro Kyosuke, and sorry for surprising you. My teammates tend to… erm… flail."
"No prob."
"The one with the lighter hair is Ensu Yasi, and—"
"And I'm Medo Chika! Nice to meetcha!" she exclaimed, jumping down and shaking my hand.
"Make some new friends, Tomoko?" Deki asked, smirking.
"You know what my name means, don't you? This is Uzuro Kyosuke, and his teammates Ensu Yasi and Medo Chika."
"Nice to meet you. Shimi Hideki, I'm Tomoko's teammate and they call me Deki. Our other teammate is Nisi Kazuyuki over there, and we call him Kazu."
They shook hands, while Dorothy took over.
"I'm Nanami Mayumi, but you can just call me Yumi. These guys are my team! This is Sou Kaida and—"
"Warami. Warami Washi," Zach gritted out while trying to push away the arm Yumi had slung over his shoulders. "By the way, congrats on your battle, Uzuro."
I froze in shock. "Who are you, and what have you done with Washi!" I asked, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him wildly.
"…Did I ever mention that I hate you?"
"Many times, many times."
"And you never listen."
"Of course not!"
"You're really annoying," he grimaced, pushing my hands off of his shoulders.
"Thanks!" I exclaimed, putting said hands on my hips.
"How many times do I have to tell you? It wasn't a compliment! You should know this by now!"
"I thought we went through this already, you'd be insulting yourself then, correct?"
"…It isn't as funny when we change it up."
"Agreed."
"So this happens often?" Kyosuke asked Deki.
"More often than seems bearable."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Ha. That stinks. It's bad enough with just the two on my team."
"No kidding."
"Yeah… Ever need a break, look me up."
"I'll keep it in mind."
"HEY! How come I'm not invited?" Washi whined.
"Because the point is to get away from you," Deki deadpanned.
"No need to be so mean, Deki!"
"Go look in a mirror, Tomoko."
"Yeah, so? I accept that I'm mean sometimes!"
"As do I."
"Oh."
"…"
"…"
"Tomoko talks a lot, doesn't she," Kyosuke stated innocently.
All he got in answer were five groans and one sheepish grin.
We continued down the street, having adding Kyosuke's team to our company.
"So, you passed the first round?" I asked, curious.
"Yeah. None of my teammates did, though. I'm number five, same as your teammate here," he answered.
"So did I sleep through this match, or were we out?" I asked Deki.
"It was the battle right after his," Kyosuke filled in when Deki shrugged.
"Cool."
"Well, we hafta go!" Chika and Yasi said at the same time from where they had been talking with Yumi.
"Yeah," Kyosuke nodded.
"Oh, well, see you around!" I waved.
"Nice meeting you!" Kazu called after them.
Deki nodded once in acknowledgment while Washi called, "Bye!"
Kaida put a hand up in a motionless wave, and Yumi yelled, "See ya!"
We walked along in near silence.
"I'm hungry," Washi spoke up.
"I am too," I chimed in.
"Korean barbecue or ramen?" Deki asked.
"Ramen. Barbeque is a little too heavy," Yumi answered.
"Great." We stopped at the booth and got seats.
"Hey kids." Surprised, I looked up and saw Shikaku-san entering the booth. "One pork ramen," he ordered.
He then sat down and looked us over.
"Well, how far did you get?" he asked.
"We all made it to the second round of battle, except for Kaida," Kazu told him as we got our orders.
"Oh, well congrats, and my apologies," Shikaku-san answered. "So I heard from my boy that you're quite the strategist. How'd you pass the first battle?"
"He licked her…" Washi muttered.
"Wha? That's an interesting strategy," Shikaku-san commented, bemused. Yumi smacked Washi upside the head.
"Don't take things out of context like that! It sounds perverted!"
"It's a perverted mind that makes things perverted!" Washi proclaimed.
Deki proceeded to ignore Washi and described the battle. Shikaku-san listened, nodding once in a while. When Deki finished telling the story, he nodded again, approvingly.
"You'd make a great strategist. Wouldn't mind having you on our side."
"But we're from the Mist…" Kazu trailed off, slightly depressed.
"You know, there's a festival tomorrow if you want to go," Shikaku-san informed us.
Yumi and I looked at each other and grinned.
"Deki!"
"Kazu!"
"Can we go?" we whined in unison, giving puppy dog eyes until we couldn't stay serious and we broke out into laughter at their weirded out expressions.
"No, really, can we?" I asked, wiping tears out of my eyes.
"Sure, but we don't really have anything to wear," Deki said.
"There's this place that my wife gets all of our formal wear from," Shikaku-san said. "They make very versatile yukatas, very lightweight and easy to move in."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Here's the location." He proceeded to draw out a map for us and handed it to Deki.
"Thanks!" I exclaimed.
"It's no problem," he replied.
"Bye!" Turning back to my friends, I said, "Why don't we postpone our dates until tomorrow and just relax today? I have to go find this store and get our yukatas paid for. The rest of you guys can do whatever, but stay on peoples' good side. We're from the Mist, you know. It's surprising that no one has been rude to us yet."
"I'm coming with you," Yumi immediately said.
"I'm heading over to Ten-Ten's mentor's shop," Kaida said.
"Wait, she was that, what, nine year old? That teacher's aide?" Washi asked, a little weirded out.
"She's ten or eleven. And she kicks ass with all of her weapons. She knows how to use some I don't, I know how to wield some that she doesn't." Kaida shrugged. Then in a split second, her katana was up to Washi's neck. "Why? You got a problem with that?"
"N-n-no!" Washi choked out, coughing once the blade was taken away from his neck. "Are we allowed to spend any money?" he asked with urgency, referring to our combined budget, and wanting to get away as soon as possible.
"…Five dollars."
"Great! Arcade, here I come!" He hightailed it away from the rest of us, especially since Kaida left immediately after he did and in the same direction.
"Deki? Kazu?"
Kazu shrugged. "I guess I'll go after Kaida and see what types of weaponry they've got."
Deki opened his mouth to speak, but Yumi beat him to it. "No, you are not going to train or research. Have some fun! Go with Kazu and Kaida or I'll make you join Washi."
Deki sighed resignedly before following after Kazu, muttering under his breath about 'over-controlling females' and 'bipolar teammates'.
"You sure you're not a mind reader too?" I asked Yumi. She grinned.
"Nope!"
We waited until Deki was an acceptable distance away before Yumi and I started walking towards the hospital and discussing matters. We finally decided on designs and colors for each of us, if the shop could have custom-made yukatas finished in time.
Upon arrival at the little shop, an old lady greeted us. After learning that yes, the shop did custom-make yukatas, I gave her the measurements for all six of us. Yumi and I then informed her on the color schemes and patterns for each person. She kindly assisted by deciding the styles and designs of the yukatas themselves, and enlisted us in helping her.
Thankful for something to do, we immediately set to sorting through and organizing the many rolls of printed silks and cloths she had in her store. When our task was finished to her liking, she shooed us away so she could get working, trusting us to pay the next morning when we picked up the finished yukatas. She waved off our profuse "thank you"s and nearly literally kicked us out.
"She must have been a ninja," I stated.
"Of course! How else could she finish at least six yukatas in one afternoon and kick us out the door?"
"Yeah, plus, in the yukatas, she planned all those hiding places and holder for sharp stuffs!" I exclaimed.
"…You mean weapons?" Yumi asked.
"Yeah! Sharp stuffs!" I replied.
"God, you're weird."
"That's the definition of Riku Tomoko!" I grinned.
"What, no 'thank you'?" Dorothy teased.
"No, I thought I'd change it up a little for once!"
"Great," she said sarcastically.
"Now, to Ten-Ten's mentor's store or to the arcade?"
"I'll go to the arcade. You don't know how to handle Washi like I do."
"Yes, I do! Just bribe him with secrets about you! Like that time at the hot springs when y—"
"Shut up!" she hissed, clapping a hand over my mouth to muffle the squeal I let out when she jabbed me in the side.
"Oww… That wasn't very nice," I pouted.
"Life's not nice. See ya later." With that, Yumi took off.
After standing there grinning stupidly for a few seconds, I went in the opposite direction.