Chapter 21! Yay *applause* !
OK, for those who didn't read the author's notes last time...
*ABOUT THE AKATSUKI STORY*: The last chapter was the first chapter of a mini series where Himeko & Co. pay a little visit to our favorite terrorist group. It is in no way a continuation of the original 'The Battle Plan'. 'Cause if it was, then I would be an incredibly confusing writer.
So, in that drop down chapter list, if there is 'Akatsuki:...' before the title, then it is no longer part of the original time-line. Capiche? Sorry if I confused people... Thanks for your wonderful reviews anyway.
'K, moving on.
Chuunin Exams: Day 3 in the Tower (FINALLY)
HimekoUchia: Ladidah. I will not be here for two weeks for I am going on a school trip to India. Just reminding those who don't normally read author's notes.
Ryo: That's great... Sarcasm. But your readers want the chapter, not a story of your life, so go on with the disclaimer.
HimekoUchia: Tsk. So sour boy. Do I have to do this every single chapter?
Yuuki: Yes. Yes you do. You never know who might try to sue you. So quit writing a mental conversation girl!
HimekoUchia: I do not own Naruto or anything really... Except for my three OCs. Masashi-sama owns those guys... And look at what he is doing to them... By the way, did you guys know that some of the lines in this story come from my actual life. Yeah.
PS: I just learned how to put line breaks in here! Yay! I know, I suck.
Last Chapter (I had to do two parts or it didn't really make sense):
"Oh, OK! Thanks! See yah around Kankuro-kun! Say hi to your siblings for me!"
"Yeah, whatever. Nice hanging out with you Himeko-chan!"
...
"Wanna watch another Star Wars movie?" I suggest, getting out my laptop since I already know their answer anyway.
"Yes!" they chorus, before all three of us turn my bed into our personal theater. Again.
"Aaaaaaaakkkkkhh! Pervert!"
"NO! Yuuki! Don't-... OUCH! Don't bite me! HEY! You are the one who fell asleep on top of me! OW!"
I awaken with a start and fall off the bed with a gasp. No worries though, my face cushioned my fall.
I groan in pain and the room goes all silent. I hear the bed creaking as my two friends lean over to watch me as I roll onto my back and stare at them.
"Um... Himeko-chan? Are you OK?" whispers Yuuki, biting her lip.
"Uh-huh." I mumble and sit up. I look at Ryo.
He is obviously trying to contain his laughter but fails miserably. He starts rolling on the bed, laughing. Since humor is so contagious, Yuuki starts r.o.b.l.-ling as well and I start laughing. I don't actually roll-on-the-floor-laughing 'cause then I would hit my head on the bed and pass out.
When we calm down, I get up and sit on the mattress next to them. I notice my laptop in sleep mode.
"Hey... We fell asleep watching the movie... Wait a second... It's only 10:30 am? And you two dumb-nuts woke me up! Urg!" I cry out and fall back onto the bed and roll over.
I suddenly hit the floor again.
"No! Himeko-chan, quit being such a lazy ass! Come on, get changed and lets go for breakfast." hollers Ryo, who was the one who pushed me off the bed. I glare, but listen to him anyway.
So after we have changed out of our pajamas (exiling our male teammate into the bathroom of course), brushed our teeth, combed our hair, washed our face and all that blah, Yuuki picks Simba off of the floor and we leave.
The corridor is, not surprisingly, deserted. Ninja folk are up pretty early, so they are probably doing something like training or putting each others life in danger. Silly people, we are going to be here for a practically a week, so why rush?
My team and I walk our way down the tower, not meeting anyone.
"Guys what did you dream about last night?" I ask my friends casually. They both shrug and look at me. I shrug as well.
"I don't remember either. I'm pretty sure that it had something to do with levitation." I reply, tapping my chin. Gosh, I hate it when I forget my dreams.
We enter the kitchen and work on something edible. I give little Simba some more meat snacks and some water. He gobbles it right up.
"Hn. We need to bring this little guy for a pit stop. He didn't go to the bathroom since we found him... Good boy!" coos Yuuki, scratching the back of the cat's ear.
Wow. Since we found him? This creature has amazing self control. I stare at the kitty for a minute, wondering if something might be unusual about it. It stares back at me. Then it blinks. Awww, I think that that means 'I love you' in cat language. Or it could mean 'Die bitch'. I mix up my Cat language sometimes. I pretty sure that it means 'I love you' though.
After we fixed up our own meal and finished eating it, we go into the outdoor training ground in hopes of meeting another team, but it is completely deserted. So we let the our little kitten do his business in the nature, then we leave again.
"Where else could they be? Let's sit in our thinking chair!" I suggest. We all end up sitting on a tree trunk. Five minutes later, we've made a short lists of places that the ninjas could be, and mentally drew out the most strategical routes to follow if we don't want to end up lost or walking up and down this creepy tower.
"So... We visit the the common room, the indoor training grounds, the library, then, the laundry room... Is that right? But isn't the indoor training grounds closer?" asks Yuuki.
"The guy showed us that they were at the other end of the Tower. If we go the short way, we have to go past the bathhouse. If we go the long way, then we can pass the common room, which is far more likely to be occupied then the baths at this time of the day. Besides, what are we gonna do? Go into the showers to check if people are there? Heh, no. Plus, we don't want a repeat of last time." I look pointedly at Ryo at the last part. He huffs and crosses his arms.
Yuuki nods to show that she got my point. So we find Simba and pick him up, then we are off once again.
After a few moments of traveling, we are in front of the common room. The sign with the kanji on it was purple, like I remembered during the tour the chuunin gave us.
"Wait... What about Akamaru? What would he do if he was in there and saw Simba?" suddenly asks Ryo. I ponder the question, shrug, then place the cat on my shoulder.
"There. So Akamaru won't be able to reach him."
We slide open the double doors and look in. Empty apart from a bunch of benches and an Asian chess table.
"Ah. I guess that our friends aren't exactly the social-bombs are they?" I sigh and slide the door shut again.
We walk all the way down the corridor to another set of double doors. This time, the sign is yellow.
"The sign for the indoor training ground is yellow right? It's not the out-of-bounds controller room?" I ask, just to make sure. We were lucky that they decided to color code all of their signs, it is almost like they knew we would come! But still, there were so many of them, it was quite easy to mix them up. And my kanji reading was oh-so limited.
"Yup it's this one. The controller room's one was red, remember?" answers Yuuki, starting to slide the door open.
Oh, right.
We step into the training ground.
It was not as huge as the outdoor one, but it was quite spacey. It looked like the hall where the preliminaries are going to be held in a couple days, only the walls we covered in targets, the balconies were replaced with resting benches and a tree was growing out of ground in center of the room. It kinda made me want to build a tree-house. Oh, and the large statue and big screen were missing too.
"H-Himeko-san! Yuuki-san! Ryo-san!" came a familiar, soft voice.
We snap of our 'oh-em-gee-a-huge-tree-is-growing-out-of-the-concrete-floor' awe and spot Hinata and Shino sitting in the corner of the room.
"Oh! Hey Hinata-chan! Shino-kun! How are you guys? Training?" I smile and my team walks over to them.
The Hyuuga smiles back and nods.
"Yes. W-we've been training all m-morning." I don't miss the smirk that Ryo sends me. So what if I like sleeping in? Who doesn't? "We are n-nearly finished. K-Kiba-kun went to get something to e-eat." The girl twiddles her thumbs nervously, before realizing what she was doing. She places her hands on her crossed legs and brushes some dirt off of her pants.
"Yes. He is. Again. I swear, that boy eats too much to be healthy." adds Shino, pushing his sunglasses up his nose. Hinata sighs lightly and ruffles the back of her hair.
"He d-does. B-but Akamaru need the n-nourishment as well!" she says, defending her dog-nin teammate.
"True. He still has the appetite of an animal though... Oh." Shino realizes what he had just said.
Everybody in the room (minus him) starts laughing for a moment.
The blue haired Hyuuga then looks at my shoulder.
"Oh! Y-You have a c-cat! What is it c-called? You didn't seem t-to have him y-yesterday. Did you?" She giggles when the kitten jumps onto her lap and she nervously scratches his head. Of course, Hinata looked adorable doing so. It was her hidden talent. She always looked cute.
"Aw, Simba likes you! Yeah, we found him yesterday afternoon, wandering outside of the Tower. We decided to keep him 'til we found his owner. He doesn't seem like a stray, since he behaves so well." laughs Yuuki. The tiny ball of fur then started purring and rubbing itself against Shino, who looked quite uncomfortable. "Heh. He likes you too Shino-kun! Simba seems to simply love people then?"
A shout, then a bark was suddenly heard.
"HEY! Akamaru! Come back!" yelled Kiba, running towards us, his puppy bounding our way.
His teeth were bared and his eyes were fixed on Simba. Oh shit.
Before anyone could pick the cat up, it suddenly decided to make a run for the open doors.
Everyone watched, horrified, as Akamaru started chasing Simba out into the corridors. Not even our calls stopped then, so we all shared a look before hastily running after the two animals.
We were like a human stampede, speeding our way past the arrival hall, only barely noticing that the door opened and a couple of familiar jonin stepped out, only to all jump back to avoid getting stomped to death.
Must have been a sight to see. A tiny kitten being chased by a tiny dog being chased by a a crowd of six teenagers.
But one second later, they were a distant memory as we continued to pursue the two little creatures, that have damn good endurance. I guess that for Simba, it's kind of a life and death situation, for Akamaru, an eat or no eat situation.
Why? Why did that adorable puppy just have to be a cat hater? Couldn't they just get along? I've seen cats and dogs be best friends before. I guess that this just isn't one of those times then.
A door opens to our left and before that I can realize that it's the library, or that Kankuro was standing there, the animals pass under his legs and the poor guy gets shoved aside by Kiba.
Once I get into to the room myself, I'm huffing for breath.
I sigh in relief when I realize that the dog-nin has managed to catch his pet and get a tight hold on him.
But Simba is still running frantically around the room. Yuuki, Ryo and I dash around the library, apologizing to Temari and Gaara when we nearly run them over, but eventually, we catch the crazy feline, managing to not get scratched.
Once we stand up and turn around, a horrified Kiba and Hinata and a frozen Shino are all staring at a pissed off Kankuro and a worried Temari who was staring at a mildly confused looking Gaara.
A long silence roams the room as everyone glanced from us, to our cat, to Akamaru.
After a minute, I clear my throat and hold Simba out, pride-rock-from-Lion-King style.
"People of the ninja world, behold the slightly-reduced-in-size King of the Jungle, Simba!" I announce.
Kankuro grumbles a little before giving me an amused smile.
"Yah saying that all of this was about that little ball of... stuff?" he asks. Wow, he nearly said 'little ball of fur and/or fluff'. I just cannot imagine his saying that. Especially not when he is all cat-woman-outfit-and-purple-war-paint.
I nod sheepishly. Kiba looks at me suspiciously.
"Hey! Where did he come from? That thing wasn't around here yesterday!" he says, obviously a dog person. No surprise there.
"Oh. We found him in wandering around the forest late afternoon, so we decided to keep him 'till we could find his owners." I repeated for the second time today. "Sorry 'bout the incident. Simba is really adorable and doesn't scratch or pee or have any flees. He likes everybody, as far as I know."
"Oh. So he's yours?" he asks, taken aback.
"Yep." I reply.
"OK then. I thought that he was an intruder or something. Gosh, Akamaru, you nearly killed out friend's cat! Say sorry." growls the dog-nin, glaring at his puppy, who whines, sounding shameful. Kiba translates. "Akamaru says that he's sorry and that it won't happen again."
"Awww! Kawaii doggy! No worries. Nothing bad happened." coos Yuuki, making the nin-dog bark, happy again.
Temari puts down the book she was reading and comes over to me and start tickling Simba. He rubs his face against her's. The kunoichi looked starstruck.
"He is so cute! Man, I wanted a cat when I was little but our father wouldn't hear of it. Heh. But this guy is especially adorable. Aren't you? Aren't you a sweetie?" she baby talks to the kitten, who purrs back at her. Wow, I wasn't expecting her to do that. Didn't see her as an animal lover, acting so tough and all.
"Kankuro. Temari is being possessed." suddenly came Gaara's voice, which sounded slightly panicked.
Everybody turned in shock to stare at him, probably all thinking something along the lines of: "Oh my gosh. Did he just say that? That is so freaking' funny and adorable! I just want to give that hot redhead a hug!"
At least, that was what I was thinking.
I chuckle and grin at the boy, who looks up at me, obviously not very happy that I laughed at him.
Simba looks wide, kitty eyed at me, then at Gaara, and before I can try to figure out what just went through his tiny cat brain, he jumps out of my arms, walks across the room and starts rubbing himself again Gaara's leg, purring very, very loudly.
Oh, wow.
The jinchuuriki looks torn between kicking the animal away, dropping his gourd on it, shouting 'Oh my gawd! Get him off of me!' or simply staring at the ball of fur, which was getting louder by the second.
Everyone observed Gaara silently, wondering what he was going to do. Temari had even slapped a hand over her mouth in pure shock.
"He didn't purr that loud for me." suddenly says Shino, sounding extremely offended, pushing his sunglasses up his nose, crossing his arms and glaring holes at Gaara. Well, you couldn't really tell, but judging by the way his mouth was in a tight line, you could sort of guess.
"Woah... Gaara-kun... He really likes you. I have never heard Simba purr that loud ever. Wow. He freaking loves you." I whisper, but since the room was practically silent, everyone could hear me very well.
The redhead snapped his head up from the cat and looked at me.
"What?" he growled, sounding pissed but awestruck at the same time.
"Simba adores you." I shrug when he looks at me with questions in his eyes.
He must be pretty confused, since this was probably the first time someone said that he was loved, a lot. He was most likely pissed since this came from a feline.
But he didn't look ready to kill my kitten, so I decided to save that poor boy, since he looked pretty dang uncomfortable standing there with a live creature rubbing itself against him.
I walked over to the boy and bent down to scoop Simba in my arms.
"Heh. Come on kitty-chan, Gaara-kun looks like he wants his leg back now. You like him, do you?" I ask the animal.
He mews in response. Smart cat.
I stand up and grin at Gaara. "That meant yes!"
The jinchuuriki awkwardly wobbles before standing in his signature, crossed armed pose.
"It's a cat." he says flatly, as if that would explain everything. I lift an eyebrow at him.
"Exactly. Animals always know how you feel. It's like their sixth sense. So that means that Simba not only likes you, but he has seen your heart, and seems to adore you more than ever for it." I smile.
OK, that was a little cheesy, but animals do see your heart. They never judge you by the way you look or talk or act. Just by how you feel. And if you feed them.
Gaara stares at me as if I've grown a second head or were severely mentally unstable, but doesn't say anything. I'm pretty sure that everyone else in the room is too. Oh great, now I'm going to be called the 'Kitty Preacher' or something.
"Quit looking at me like that guys! I used to have a dog, but I know that cats and most animals are like that. Right Kiba-kun? Animals are awesome because they understand!" I spin around and fix my eyes on the boy, hoping that he won't disagree, because that would just be embarrassing.
He snaps out of his trance and clears his throat.
"Um...Yeah... Animals can sense things we don't. Especially things like fear, sadness or love. And since Akamaru is a ninja dog, he can sense your power and chakra too. Isn't that right boy?" laughs Kiba proudly when his furry friend barks.
Phew. Thank you Kiba!
I turn around to face Gaara again to smile in victory at him. His eyes dart from me, to Kiba, to Simba, then back at me.
Whoa, I didn't realize that I was standing so close to him. If just leaned over, I could...
Heh, not the time.
But Gaara has really pretty eyes that are blank on the outside, but you can really see his soul... It's greenish blue like the ocean. Oh, wait, that's just his eye color.
His hair looks actually kinda soft, even if it is spiky. I suddenly had an urge to touch it.
I gulped, held Simba (who was rubbing his head against my cheek) a little closer and swiveled so that I was standing beside Gaara instead of in front of him.
It was better for controlling the urges. Plus, I could now see the crowd that was behind me a moment ago.
Everyone is still statue-like and staring at Simba, Gaara and I. Except Kiba, who was cuddling Akamaru, but stopped when he realized that I was watching. The boy blushed crimson red before clearing his throat loudly, snapping everybody out of their disbelief.
Suddenly, every person in this room has something they need to do.
"Kiba. Hinata. We didn't finish training. Let's go back." says Shino in a tone that clearly means 'I-just-want-to-go-away-from-these-killer-ninjas-and-the-psycho-girl-with-the-cat' "Bye. See you around."
His team follows him out without protesting, waving goodbye to the people in the room.
Temari makes a strange noise that sounds like a cross between a gasp and a sigh then sits on a chair and goes back to reading her book.
Kankuro scratches the top of his head and sits down silently, taking out a book about... puppets. Oh the shock.
The two older Sand Siblings are then absorbed in their reading, but I can see their eyes darting to Gaara from time to time.
Said redhead suddenly disappears in a swirl of sand.
"Woah! He teleported!" I gasp, looking at the now empty spot that Gaara used to stand in.
"He is probably going to sit of the roof. He seems to like doing that." mumbles Temari, moving around to get more comfortable in her seat.
Kankuro grunts in response.
Ryo and Yuuki both find a chair to sit on then start looking through the large selection of books. Checking the shelves, I see that some of these were actually written in English. But I really didn't feel like reading right now, so I walked out of the library with Simba trotting at my heal, leaving my team to do whatever they wanted.
I silently stroll around the Tower, humming to myself
"Hm... I wonder what Gaara-kun is doing right now?" I whisper to myself.
Suddenly, a large figure blocks my way. Tilting my head back to see who it is, I gasp.
"Baki-san! I didn't know that you were here!" I grin and step backwards so that I am not uncomfortably close to him. He doesn't smile back.
"All of the jonin leaders are arriving today. If one of us hear that our team didn't make it, then we would leave. Since my team is here, I will be staying." he explains.
"Oh. Makes sense..." I trail of when he starts scrutinizing me. OK... I take a safe step back again. "Baki-san? Is something wrong?"
He huffs and gives me a strong, adult look.
"You and your team do not have a jonin leader. You have just arrived out of nowhere. You can't even prove that you exist. And you now take extreme interest in my students? Is it Gaara's potential that you noticed? What is your plan?" he asks me blankly. My eyes widen when I realize what he is asking.
"What? Hell no! I am not trying to bring Gaara-kun or anybody down! I am not trying to spy or convert anyone! I just want the show to go on, but be able to know people! I just want to be friends with Gaara, Temari and Kankuro. I am not going to back-stab or betray them. Baki-san... The reason I am here is because... People treat shinobi like weapons, but forget that their 'weapons' are young teenagers who just really need to be reminded who they are, how great they are, pushing prejudice aside, no judging and just the fact that they are human and not simply fighting machines. Look at Gaara... That's what happens when kids are treated as objects." I rant sadly. The man looks only half convinced.
"You seem to know much more about us than we know about you." he says suspiciously, looking at me, as if looking for an answer.
"Yeah. We do. If I explained, you wouldn't believe me. So let's just say that we know you guys, but not completely, so we came here to learn more about you. Just as friends, not to collect information or whatever you are thinking." I stare at Baki, who seems to be accepting what I was saying.
"Fine. I don't need to know your business. But keep away from Gaara." he says through gritted teeth.
Why? Why does everyone tell me to stay away from Gaara? Why?
"Sorry, no can do. I really like Gaara-kun and leaving him alone isn't physically, mentally or emotionally possible for me. So please, don't make me. I know that you are worried about him. I will not mess up his already unstable mind. I just want to help. Because no one else does!" I can't help but glare a little at Baki. He looks taken aback.
"Help? You think that you are helping him? He doesn't even understand the concept of communication! If you talk to him, he will just be confused! He wouldn't even know that you are trying to help!" he practically shouts at me. Oh, heated argument coming up!
"What makes you think that Gaara is incapable of communicating? I managed to talk to him! I've seen him smile! He told me a little about himself! You only think that way because you have never actually tried to talk about something other than ninja, weapons or war with him! He has a personality too, you know?" I huff, only slightly surprised that I was actually angry with Baki. I know that he's an adult and all but... These adults just screw up the next generation! Not this guy in particular, but I was actually thinking of the Kazekage and Yashamaru. Man, those guys I hated so bad.
"I am his sensei! My job is to teach and lead him! Not to bond!" he growls. My eyebrow twitches.
"Well, you should bond! It an important part of being a teacher! Another person who should have bonded with Gaara is his father, but, well, he did a good job huh?" I spit sarcastically.
Baki's face falls.
"The... The Kazekage is a busy man. He-..." I cut him off.
"Their is a difference between being a good leader and being a good person. Treating your child like crap does not make you a good person. And treating you student like a pawn doesn't either." I bite my lip and look down at me feet. God, I hate fighting. But I hate this ninja treatment so much more.
Baki stays silent for a minute. He then sighs and massages his forehead.
"How is it that you can make me feel bad for doing my job? I am a shinobi, I shouldn't care." he mumbles, but I heard him.
"Because... You're really cool, Baki-sensei. But thinking that Gaara is an empty shell is probably the biggest mistake one can make. Somehow, somewhere in his head, he does think of you, since you are his teacher. If you tried to bond... Then he would look up to you instead. I know that being a ninja is about being tough and caring only about your mission, the well being of your country and declaring war on neighboring villages, but, you have to admit, having someone admire and respect you is something everyone secretly wants." I smile at jonin, who looks at me.
"For a kid, you sure know how to communicate." he finally sighs.
"Thanks. I've been told that." I laugh, rubbing the back of my neck.
"I am no longer asking you to stay away from Gaara. But, still, watch your back kiddo. Since you know him pretty well, you should understand what I am saying. And about missions, you seem to know about our-... SHIT!" I never thought that I would see Baki squeal like that. "What the... Oh, it's just a cat."
I bite back a giggle as Simba continues to rub himself against the man's leg, purring. He turns his little feline head at me and seems to wink. Gosh, I love this kitty. Phew. I think that I gave away the fact that I knew about Suna's 'attack Konoha' mission. At least the jonin seems to have forgotten about that. Thanks Simba, I know that you did it on purpose somehow.
"Heh. Um..." Baki-sensei coughs and acts as if nothing happened. "I will be on my way. Good-bye, kid."
"My name is Himeko. Oh, by the way, happy birthday Baki-san!" I grin at his surprised expression. "30 years old right?"
"How did you know? I haven't told anyone." he asks, clearly happy and in a good mood bubble. Psh... These ninjas are all business, but everyone loves a birthday wish. Except for Neji, apparently.
"I'm psychic. Oh, I have loads homemade chocolate left over from when I made some yesterday. Want some? Sorry that they are heart shaped, but that's the way I imagined them when I was making 'em." I summon a small bag of candy (still have over a dozen of those left... I think that my team and I must have went overboard a bit) and hand it to the man, who looks a little teary eyed.
"I haven't gotten a gift since I was 9..." he sniffs and smiles cheerfully at me. "Thank you. I'll try that bonding thing with my students."
He takes a bite of chocolate and sighs.
"Man... I haven't eaten sweets for years!"
"Years? Well, I'm glad that I changed that!"
"So am I."
Baki suddenly freezes, stands up straighter and clears his throat, regaining his cool.
"Ahem. Yes. Bye." he awkwardly rushes out of the corridor, probably going somewhere to stuff his face. Hehe.
When he is completely out of earshot, I start laughing my butt off.
I cannot believe that Baki acted so much more childish than Neji when he got his gift. Hah, life is full of surprises.
"Tsk. Gotta love these ninjas." I chuckle and continue on my little walk, trying to think of one reason why I shouldn't totally adore these people.
I place Simba on my shoulder and we give each other a knowing look.
I couldn't find any.
Sorry that this is late. I was completely bedridden yesterday, I couldn't even move my right arm (I had to get a shot because my body couldn't handle water). But after good old rice and water and lots of poking of my throat with a salted chopstick, I'm feeling so much better.
Well, I hope that you enjoyed that! I love the entire Sand Team, including Baki, as you might have noticed.
Thank you for reading, and if you would review, that would be awesome ;p.
Two weeks without Internet in India... But I can still write, maybe. We will have to hike, like, 6 hours across the southern part of the country, so no promises.
I will try to get a chapter out before the end of the month. I'll try.
Peace, Love, Chocolate,
XOXO~~ HimekoUchia (sick, but chillin')