Alright, I've got the next chapter of "I'm Not Abnormal!" ready for everyone. I hope you all enjoy it.
I'm Used to Defying Orders
"What…is this?" Zenkichi asked looking around when they reached the next floor. Around him were numerous holding pens as animals of all types lazed around only sending them cursory glances.
Naruto suddenly looked off to the side and saw a bench. "I think I'm going to sit on that bench." He muttered sounding a little dazed. Making his way over the others sweat dropped when he quickly fell asleep.
At the same time Medaka was excitedly running around admiring the animals which weren't running away from her. "They're all so cute!" she declared happily as Kikaijima followed her with an expressionless face.
While Zenkichi looked on in confusion Akune suddenly headed elsewhere leaving the rebellious teen with Maguro who looked interested. "Is something going on?" Zenkichi asked turning his head to regard Maguro.
Although he looked surprised Maguro quickly smiled "I should've known you'd be the least likely to fall for it." He muttered getting an odd look from the general affairs manager.
"Affected by what?" Zenkichi asked curiously. "Are these guys under hypnosis or something?" he continued looking slightly worried if there really was someone who could hypnotize Medaka.
"Sort of" Maguro stated with a shrug of his shoulders. "One of the 13-party has an abnormality we called Subliminal Thoughts. It's an ability to enhance a person's desires towards something by the user's control.
"So Medaka's urge to look around, Naruto's desire for sleep, Kikaijima following Medaka around and Akune-senpai wandering off was all influenced by this person?" Zenkichi asked looking around. Seeing Maguro nod he hummed in thought. "Then why wasn't I affected? Or you for that matter?"
"My love and affection for Medaka-chan cannot be enhanced any further than what it is." Medaka's brother declared seriously. "As for you…" Maguro tapped his chin. "Maybe it is because you always go against your better judgment to follow Medaka-chan around?" he wondered aloud not entirely sure.
"Well in any case…" Zenkichi muttered sulking slightly. "How can I find this person, and how do I reverse the effects?" he asked looking around for some sort of clue.
Maguro smiled happily "Well unless they've progressed further than what I remember, they need to be able to see the people they're affecting. To break their hold a distraction should be more than enough."
"So they're in the room, and I've got to break their attention." Zenkichi muttered as he began looking around. "If they have to see everyone then they should be near the top of the room…" he muttered looking for a way to get higher. "There should be an access door somewhere to get to the animal cages above us."
"Zenkichi come on check out the tigers!" Medaka called out happily as Kikaijima rolled her eyes.
"Hold on Medaka-chan I got to check something out real quick." Zenkichi called back as he continued walking around trying to find a way to check the upper areas of the room. "There it is." He muttered seeing a door labeled 'Employee Access' next to the lion's holding pen. Pushing open the door Zenkichi began walking up the stairs, Medaka's laughter echoing through the metal room. Exiting the stairwell Zenkichi allowed himself time to look around. "I guess it wouldn't be that easy." He muttered somewhat sadly.
With another sigh Zenkichi began walking past all of the exhibits checking each one for someone who didn't belong there. "Any luck up there Zenkichi?" Maguro called out as he noticed Zenkichi walking around on the upper levels.
"No, haven't found them yet." Zenkichi stated with a shake of his head. "You remember what they look like?" he asked looking at Maguro hopefully.
"Nope, why would I care about some girl other than my sister?" Maguro asked with a laugh. "You should know better than that Zenkichi!"
Zenkichi sighed "At least I know it's a woman now." He muttered to himself as he continued to look around. Seeing another door, this time labeled security, Zenkichi shrugged his shoulders and walked over to it.
"Why isn't this goddamned idiot listening to my orders?" he heard a voice shout from behind the door. "Even that beast Kurokami Medaka was influenced by my Subliminal Thoughts. Hell even Naruto was influenced!" the person continued to rage as Zenkichi took a deep breath in preparation.
"I'm terribly sorry!" he shouted kicking in the door. "But I'm used to doing things against my better judgment!" he declared startling the speaker out of her seat. "Release my friends!"
"Holy shit you scared me!" she yelled at him as she quickly got to her feet giving Zenkichi a better look at her. She was a little taller than him, her hair a light shade of blonde while her eyes, while perhaps not as blue as Naruto's, was still noticeably blue in color. She was wearing a security guard's outfit and a lock of hair covered her right eye. Seeing that he wasn't attacking her she relaxed. "I really should get that thing fixed…" she muttered as Zenkichi noticed that the camera that was supposed to be watching her door was busted.
"I won't ask you again, release my friends." He stated threateningly.
"Hm…" she muttered tapping her chin. "Alright, on one condition." She stated getting a confused look from Zenkichi.
"Wait just like that?" he asked having expected more of a fight. "Uh…okay, what is it?" he asked as he lowered his arms which had been raised in front of him defensively.
Before she could answer him a loud rumbling sounded off causing the girl's face to redden. "Could you get me some food?" she asked weakly as she curled in on herself and held her aching stomach. "Like real food…I haven't been able to leave these labs since I woke up here and all they give me is ramen and vitamins."
Zenkichi felt sweat accumulating on the side of his head as he regarded the girl who seemed to be suffering. "I don't think any of us brought any food down here with us." He muttered.
"Just bring Naruto up here, I know him personally, he's always prepared for stuff like this." She muttered before moaning pitifully as she remained in her position on the floor. "So…hungry…" she whimpered as Zenkichi sighed.
Making his way down the stairs Zenkichi that, although a little dizzy none of the others seemed to have noticed anything was even wrong. "Oi, Naruto…" he muttered walking up to the whiskered blonde. "The security guard says she knows you, and that you'd have some food on you."
"What?" Naruto asked looking up at him. "Could you describe them?" he asked getting up from his lounging position. As Zenkichi described the woman to the best of his ability Naruto looks surprised. "Alright, I think I know who it is." He muttered getting up "show me the way."
"So who is it?" Zenkichi asked as the two of them made their way back to the room.
"Well if I'm right…a friend" Naruto explained simply. Upon arriving at the security room Naruto sighed as he squatted down next to the whimpering blonde. "Hey Ino, I see you've had it tough." He muttered patting her on the shoulder.
"Please…give me food first." She moaned unable to look up at him.
Naruto sighed "I suppose it really is impossible for us to be normals." He muttered as he revealed what looked like a tattoo on his hand. With a poof of smoke a simple ham and cheese sandwich appeared in his hands shocking Zenkichi. "Oh, by the way, don't say anything about this Zenkichi…or else…" he gave a pointed glare at the manager of general affairs.
"Why do you try so hard to be normal, when it's painfully obvious you're not?" Zenkichi asked as the girl known as Ino began eating the sandwich ravenously.
"I prefer not being bothered by people trying to learn all of my secrets." Naruto stated simply. "The less they suspect, the less they pry." He continued as Ino finished the sandwich looking a lot happier.
"Thank you Naruto." She muttered getting to her feet. "I feel a lot better." Rolling her shoulders she looked around. "Well maybe with you guys here I can finally get out of these god forsaken labs."
"So…why ARE you here?" Naruto asked as Ino took a seat a little dizzy from consuming the sandwich so quickly. "I thought I was the only one who came here." He muttered while his hand made some quick signs at his side.
Recognizing the signs Ino shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, all I remember was eating with Shikamaru and Chouji, and suddenly I was unconscious." She paused seeing Zenkichi listening in. "Next thing I know, I'm in here." Subtly using one of her hands to send a response to Naruto she smiled.
"Well are you okay?" Zenkichi asked uncomfortable with the implications the female blonde's words had. "They didn't do anything to you did they?" he asked nervously.
Ino smiled kindly at the boy. "They didn't rape me or anything like that." She assured him. "At least…I wasn't conscious for anything like that." She added in with a small frown. "I'm pretty sure they didn't…" shaking her head she continued. "They poked me with a lot of needles as they tried to understand by 'Abnormality' it was easier to let them think what they wanted than trying to explain that my abilities are things I cultivated through hard work and effort."
"You mean you're like Naruto?" Zenkichi asked curiously. "All this weird shit you can do, yet you don't call yourself an abnormal."
"Well I mean my ability is genetic…" Ino trailed off as she opened one of her hands in lieu of a shrug. "I don't call my ability abnormal at all; rather it'd be even weirder if I couldn't do it."
Zenkichi shrugged his shoulders. "Well if you're right, I guess it makes sense." He muttered causing Naruto to stare at him.
"Oh, so when I say that you all don't believe me, but when she says it you do?" he asked looking insulted. "This is preferential treatment!" he mock raged.
"What are you stupid?" Zenkichi asked looking at Naruto oddly. "Of course we'd believe a cute girl over you." He grinned causing Naruto's head to slump in defeat as Ino giggled.
"Why thank you for calling me cute Hitoyoshi-san." She held a hand in front of her mouth demurely. "Such a charmer~!" she batted her eyes at him causing Naruto to guffaw as Zenkichi rubbed his head in embarrassment.
Ino smiled as she fixed her posture. "Well in any case, I'm glad that you found me Naruto, I'll wait here for you guys to finish whatever you came here to do."
"Don't you want to meet the others first?" Naruto asked as he gestured for Zenkichi to go on ahead of him. "I'm glad I'm not the only one here." He stated seeing Zenkichi turn around a corner.
"I'd like to, but I don't want the principal and his goons to focus too much on me." She explained with a wry smile. "Just make sure to come get me after you're done."
Naruto nodded his head as he turned around. "Alright, keep yourself safe until I get back then."
"Don't forget Naruto, you'll find friends almost anywhere." Ino informed him with a wave
"Right…" Naruto muttered as he recalled her hand signs from earlier. "At least Kurenai-sensei and hear team, Shikamaru and Chouji, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura and Sai, and Gai-sensei and his team somehow all ended up here. There may even be more but Ino isn't sure." He muttered softly to himself. "Just what the hell happened?"
"Hm?" he wondered walking towards the group who were staring at a closed shutter door. "What's going on?"
"Ah, Namikaze Naruto, it seems that Secretary Akune was isolated from us behind this door. We're trying to figure out what to do next." Medaka explained simply as she greeted him.
"Well…shouldn't we just continue on?" Naruto asked pointing at the stairs that lead to the lower floors. "I'm pretty sure he'll be fine."
Medaka considered his proposition quietly as her ahoge swayed back and forth as if it were an antenna "You're right, Akune-senpai will eventually catch up with us." She declared as they began walking.
Kikaijima tilted her head to the side. "By the way Naruto-san, what were you doing?" she asked curiously. "I didn't see you after Hitoyoshi-kun woke you up."
"Oh, it turns out a friend of mine was the security guard for the holding pens." Naruto explained with a smile. "She's been kept here for a while with minimal food, so she was really hungry. I happened to have some food on me that was still good, so I gave it to her. She's waiting for us to finish before she makes her escape."
"I see…" the former swimming ace muttered as they continued down the stairs. "Will you introduce us to her later then?"
"Yeah, she expressed some interest in meeting you guys." Naruto stated with a small smile.
End
Alright here we go. I hope everyone enjoyed it, and I'll see you next time.