Chapter 1: Team 7

I was laying in bed, my long pearly white hair draped over my face as I rested on my side. My eyes were closed, but my mind was whirring.

That dream… why couldn't I hold onto it. It felt so important, but the more i tried to hold onto it, the more it slipped away. I tried to fall back asleep, maybe that would bring it back, but my mind was too active. All i could recall was a large slithering snake, weaving between thick trees, it's large red tongue flicking to smell the air.

After about 30 minutes or so, I sat up and looked out the window of my second floor apartment. The sun was beginning to rise and I watched it peacefully as it slowly crawled above the incredibly tall Konoha tree line. Once light had spread over the village, I looked at my clock, 6:27am, and shut it off before the 6:30am alarm I set the night before could disrupt the quiet morning.

I threw my legs off the bed and began my morning ritual. First, I brushed her teeth and washed my face, then I put on a pot of tea before getting dressed in my typical gear. Thin, but military strength, body armor chest plate over a black, high-crew neck tank top with metal guards along the top of my arms. Strong net stockings to prevent long scrapes under loose green shorts, and metal shin guards. I tied the newly acquired navy Konoha headband across my forehead, then pulled it off, not liking how it looked. After a moment, I decided on wearing it around my neck like Hinata had been doing since graduation.

I checked the stock of my ratty, brown fanny pack which I affixed on my right hip, near my dominant hand. There were a few easy access shuriken and kunai, along with some explosive seals and smoke bombs. The typical kunoichi luggage, plus a few high calorie snacks. I got cranky when my stomach was too empty.

I looked at myself in the mirror and did a couple jumps to make sure the armor was belted tightly enough to not slide. I took a moment to observe my dark green eyes in the mirror and noticed the mild anxiety that lined them. It was my first day as a Genin. Yes, I was incredibly excited, but I didn't exactly know what to expect. And I liked to know what to expect. I had always been a bit of an anxious child, overly planning everything. Trying to predict what may occur. The teachers said that was a good skill to have as a ninja, but my fluttering anxious stomach made me doubt that as a blanket statement.

The kettle began to shriek and I pulled my gaze away from my own reflected eyes, to finish making breakfast.

———

I made my way to the empty Academy classroom and observed the three unique faces of my teammates. I was pleased to see Naruto, the only comrade I was happy to have on my team. He was a last minute addition, seeing that he originally failed the exam. Squads of five (including our sensei) were not preferred in Konoha, but they weren't unheard of either. I mean, what else could you do if a graduating class was not divisible by three?

I had arrived exactly on time, not a minute late and not a minute early, so that means that the other three must have gotten there early in their excitement. I eyed the Uchiha with mild dislike. I couldn't imagine him feeling "excitement" in general, let along at the prospect of a first day at work. He had always been too self-absorbed and arrogant. True, he was incredibly talented for his age, but he had a sour attitude that I had a hard time being around for too long. During academy, I avoided him like the plague. Which, unsurprisingly, made me the minority among the other 12-year old girls who drooled over the jerk.

Sitting a little too closely to Sasuke was the pink haired fangirl, Sakura. I liked Sakura more than Sasuke, but I had a hard time being around her as well. It was hard to hold any kind of conversation with the girl when all she wanted to talk about after turning 10 years old was Sasuke-this and Sasuke-that. I had never been the "boy crazy" type. Hell, I hadn't even developed my first crush yet. So, watching her feeble attempts to woo the last Uchiha made me cringe internally.

Out of all my teammates, I definitely liked Naruto the best. He was chaotic, and objectively untalented, but his heart had always been in the right place. He would never act better than others or be intentionally unkind. I had spent a bit of time with him throughout academy, but I mostly kept to myself, so I wouldn't call us friends or anything like that. More like… friendquantances.

"Nova!" Naruto yelled and waved his hands in my general direction with a comically large smile.

I grinned back and waved. "Good morning Naruto." Then I turned to Sakura and Sasuke, bidding them a good morning as well, as ignoring my new teammates would be rude. I ascended the classroom steps and took a seat diagonal to Naruto.

"I actually thought you would be late today!" Naruto laughed.

"I'm never late," I responded with a small grin. "And I'm sure as hell not starting today." Today was important, after all. Our first day as genin, and our first day meeting our Sensei.

———

It became apparent as time progressed, that our new sensei was the type to be late on an important day. Sasuke seemed to be meditating, but I could feel his irate chakra pulsing from him. He was clearly in a foul mood at being made to wait. Naruto wasn't even trying to hide his irritation.

"What's taking him so long!" The blonde boy suddenly shouted, rising to his feet and slamming his hands down on the desk. His abundant chakra swirled around him, "It's been almost two hours!"

"Maybe he forgot?" Sakura thought aloud and Naruto groaned. "Or he's on a mission?"

"If that's the case, someone should have told us. This is lame," I groaned and crossed my arms. Suddenly, Naruto's face warped from irritation to one of mischief.

We all knew that impish expression all too well…

He got up and grabbed a dusty chalkboard eraser from the front of the classroom and stood precariously on a stool to position it in the cracked door. A child's trap.

"Naruto!" Sakura whined, "You're going to get us in trouble!" But she wasn't exactly stopping him, and I could feel her chakra, deep down, was swelling in amusement and anticipation.

"Well it's his fault for being so late!" Naruto retorted and went back to his seat with an smiled, pleased with himself.

Not moments after he took his seat, we heard the slight pittering of footsteps coming down the previously vacant hallway outside the classroom. Summer break had begun for the teachers and those who had not yet graduated. I could feel the chakra through the wall. I could sense enormous reserves, so it was clearly a ninja of jounin rank or higher. But, the emotion seemed… conflicted and distracted.

'Why would our new sensei be feeling this way?' I remember thinking, but the thought was immediately washed away by everyone's anticipation.

I noticed that everyone was holding their breath to see if the prank would work, even Sasuke had opened his dark eyes to watch. The door slowly opened and a white haired man stuck his head in, only for the erasure to fall in a puff of chalk dust. At least his hair was already white…

Naruto burst out laughing and I had to fight to hide a smile. Sakura stood up and began apologizing to their new Sensei profusely, although she wasn't the one to blame. And Sasuke rolled his eyes, unimpressed that a Jounin would fall for such an elementary trap.

The Jounin ambled up the front of the classroom and looked at us with dull annoyance, his one exposed grey eye was half-lidded lazily. His mouth was covered with a mask, buti had a feeling he was frowning. Then he spoke dryly, "Hmm, my first impression of you four… You're idiots."

———

"I guess it's time for introductions," our new sensei exhaled unenthusiastically. He was obviously still a bit bitter about the innocent prank. "What you like. What you don't like. Your dreams and hobbies. Stuff like that."

"Why don't you start, sensei," Naruto suggested and Kakashi gave a little shrug that simply said 'sure, why not?'

"I'm Hatake Kakashi. As for my likes and dislikes… I don't feel like telling you that."

'Uhhhh…' I scrunched my eyebrows together. Wasn't he just the one to suggest sharing that information? Yet, he doesn't want to say anything himself… oookay. 'Gods. I hope he isn't another Sasuke,' I thought bitterly.

Kakashi continued, "As for my dreams of the future, I've never really thought about it. And I have a lot of hobbies."

Sakura's eye twitched and she covered her mouth to talk to her other three teammates "He really didn't say anything other than his name." I nodded, frowning, and propped my head up on my hand. Our new teacher seemed like a real strange one. He was aloof and showed genuine disinterest in acting like a typical "sensei".

"Now starting from the right. You start," he pointed at me.

"My name is Hoshi Nova. I like…" I paused thinking. All i could come up with were small things. "Hot drinks, I guess. Like coffee or tea, in the morning or after training." Then I thought about my dislikes. My immediate thoughts were of the fire. I felt my jaw clench reflexively, and pushed the memory away. I didn't know these people. Not really. So I wasn't going to share that information, it was none of their business and it wasn't something I felt like talking about. Not now, not ever. I tried to brainstorm for more superficial ideas, like 'hot drinks'.

"I don't like being late."

Sakura giggled and I felt Kakashi's chakra flicker in indignation, and I cringed internally. I didn't mean to call him out. Ugh. I could feel myself stepping into awkward territory already. Getting off on the wrong foot was almost like my specialty.

I decided the best thing to do was to just continue on with my introduction, "My dream is to be a well rounded shinobi, and as for hobby's, I like to garden." I didn't vocalize my true goal. My real reason for being a shinobi. But maybe I would feel more comfortable talking about that later. But given the cold vibes coming of Kakashi, and my general dislike for my teammates, I highly doubted it. As I finished, I twisted my snowy hair in my finger, a mindless anxious tick, and looked over at Naruto sitting next to me.

Naruto smiled brightly and adjusted his headband as he spoke. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I love Ramen! I dislike the few minutes I have to wait after making ramen. My hobbies include trying new ramen!" I stopped twirling my hair and eyed my new teammates with an amused smile. Sasuke was trying his best to ignore Naruto, but his eyebrow twitched in irritation and Sakura looked extremely exasperated. Kakashi looked similarly exasperated, but more tired and like he had his work cut out for him. "And my dream is to be the next hokage!" At this Sasuke snickered and Naruto began yelling at him. Kakashi got them to simmer down and next came Sakura's introduction.

The way Sakura spoke about her interests (Sasuke) and her goal (Sasuke) made me roll my eyes almost to the back of her skull. Girls like her were the worst. Then she said her biggest dislike was Naruto, which gave me insight into just how dysfunctional this group was going to be. What a nightmare. My anxiety spiked once more and my stomach hurt a little bit. Why couldn't anything ever be simple and straightforward.

Sasuke's introduction was uncomfortable to say the least. His aura reeked of angst and his ultimate goal was to kill a certain someone. Who, he would not describe, but I knew. Uchiha Itachi.

Lots of the teachers assumed the students never listened when they muttered in hushed whispers or commiserate about their students in the teacher lounge next to a small study nook that I often frequented. I had heard many stories about "the Uchiha boy" and what happened to his clan. It was awful stuff, and I empathized greatly with Sasuke, even though he was an absolute pain in the ass to be around in my honest opinion. But I knew his pain, so much so it hurt even to be around him. Maybe that was part of the reason he rubbed me the wrong way. Although I never would have admitted it at the time.

The fire. My fire.

I swallowed hard and pushed the thought away. I just had to keep pushing it away.

-I was only trying to push her away-. Fuck.

I knew Kakashi was speaking, but I had a hard time focusing. Painful memories were assaulting me, making my palms sweat. And before I knew it, we were dismissed and Kakashi shunshined away.

This happened sometimes. I called it "blanking". Suddenly all sound was filtered away and I felt like i was watching myself go through the motions from a third person view.

I stood up and began to amble away. Before I was jarred back by a hand on my shoulder. I spun around suddenly, my spirit shooting back into my body. The world was viewed in first person once more.

"Ehh?! Nova! Why weren't you answering me?!" Naruto whined, a worried look in his eyes and his chakra reached out to me curiously. I was relieved he wasn't annoyed that I had accidentally ignored him.

"Sorry, Naruto," I apologized, reaching up to tug on a strand of my hair. A kind of minor self punishment for blanking. It also helped bring me back all the way. Pain usually did. "What were you saying?"

Naruto looked confused for a moment, then repeated himself. "I was talking about how bullshit it is we have to take another test!"

"Another test?" I gasped, completely lost.

"Yes, another test! Weren't you listening?? Sunrise tomorrow in training field 3! If we don't pass, we go back to the academy!" Naruto yelled, getting a little pink in the cheeks from getting so worked up. He had barely passed the first time, and I wondered if he was worried he wouldn't make it through again if he went back.

"Oh, that's right," I muttered absent mindedly. I vaguely remembered the other students' yells of shock and anger at Kakashi after he mentioned something.

"Aren't you more worried, Nova?" Naruto asked, confused at my subdued reaction.

I was still too unfocused to worry. I decided to just go ahead and encourage him to get his prying chakra away from me. Feeling other people's emotions was too much for me at that moment, with my own swirling confused and distressed ones. "No, of course not! We've made it this far, haven't we?" To my pleasure, Naruto's lips warped from worry to a bright sunny smile. That put my mind at ease a bit, he always had such a friendly aura. But what I really needed was to go on a run. That always cleared my mind. "We should prepare, I'll see you bright and early tomorrow!"

They said their goodbyes and I made my way to the Konoha forest.

———

I jumped from tree to tree, running at a comfortable pace. I had the highest endurance out of all the kunoichi in my class, probably from all the runs I took to clear my mind. But my general physical strength left a lot to be desired, and my taijutsu skills lacked even more. Endurance, but not much to do with it…

When I sprinted through the forest, I could force myself to focus on her body instead of my mind. I listened to my feet hit the bark, and felt my muscles tensing with every step and leap.

I wondered if I would see Kiba walking Akamaru. This patch of forest was a common Inuzuka stomping ground as it was relatively close to the clan's segment of the village. I remembered the first time I met Kiba there. He didn't even have Akamaru yet, but he was running with a couple of his sister's wolves. He had acted a bit territorial at first, but then he recognized me as one of his classmates. We started talking more and before long we were pretty regular running partners. Whenever he caught my scent in this patch of forest, he would join me. Kiba's energetic and positive attitude would help me snap out of my blanking, especially because he never expected me to respond. I divulged, over time, that I often ran when I was feeling anxious about my past. I never gave him details, but he had been kind and shared some personal information with me as well. He would often run to get out of the house and away from his mom. His father ditched his family when he was young, and Kiba felt his appearance was too similar. He couldn't stand the way his mom looked at him sometimes. So he would train in the forest so he could freely be himself. Wild and free.

But as I ran, Kiba didn't join. I remembered it was his first day as well, and maybe his sensei was actually spending some quality time with his/her students. I sighed and decided to conclude my run as the sun began to fall below the olive green tree line.