A/N Hi! Guess who just made a chapter a week away from her finals. I just don't want to study physics, someone help me!

Chapter 16

The thing is, Manda isn't so scary if you don't value your life. He's a good teacher, everything he said gets stuck in your brain (mostly because I would rather avoid the consequences of being unprepared before him and partly because he has actual skill in schematizing and explaining concepts.)

He still called her lunch, she's decided to consider it a pet name and move on. Also, she has a lot of work to do, she's gotten better at the language and now she can hold a decent conversation. Does she do it often? The answer to that would be no; the only people she hangs around periodically are Kakashi (that is apparently physically pained by social interactions with her), Naruto (who can be set off into ranting without any kind of control), Sakura (who is actually nice when Sasuke isn't around) and Sasuke himself. He… well… he is physically pained by talking to anyone but Naruto, but he just yells at him.

She also hangs with Shikamaru often but they're always playing shogi and there isn't much she can say that aren't insults (not like she knows many). Seriously that kid can't be that good. She's tried to catch him cheating but either he is a master cheater, or she's just bad at the game. Hmm.

Anyways, she's gotten used to hanging around the kids and listening to Naruto's rants and rolling her eyes at Sakura. Kakashi just stares at her, does he never do anything? Sakura could use a long conversation about life goals, Naruto would appreciate a hug and maybe a muzzle, seriously that kid doesn't shut up, and Sasuke needs a bitch-slap.

The kids had issues but she didn't exactly had friends to spare. Well she had the animals which, by the way, could understand her no matter what language she spoke in. She didn't know why she was surprised, they hadn't understood her family, animals understood her.

She wondered what do do now.

Lying in the grass, as the original ran around the forest, she opened the notebook and began to make a list of things she had to learn. Fuuinjutsu and the language were the obvious ones, taijutsu and Academy ninjutsu were covered, genjustu was a problem but it wasn't like she wasn't doing anything at the moment. She's been studying to the point of being considered torture and right now she is focusing on getting herself fit.

Kakashi's kids are faster than her, even Sakura is better than her and she barely runs five laps in training. She's seen Naruto run almost thirty in a day because it's the only thing that will keep him from fighting Sasuke. Thirty. Her tops was around twenty, the grounds were like 5 kilometers long, or something, it takes so looong to complete one... She's been counting sheep, like when you can't sleep, and she's reached 5,000. Thats, like, an eternity.

The clones study, the original runs. It's all fun and games until someone has to run. The original gets pissy and you cannot make fun of her without getting chased until she drops out of exhaustion or she runs out of adrenaline so she has no strength left to attack them.

Seriously they were training hard for someone who hadn't really expected to survive the week in the town. It's not like she hadn't had chances to die…maybe she could fake her death at some point? Maybe she should just stay. Give life one last chance or something. Whatever. Where is this going? This is getting too personal. Is she going to stay here? Probably not.

What she knew is that some time had passed and she didn't feel like one of her chronic breakdowns was coming through which was good, she hoped. Maybe it will hit her without a buildup like that one time? She hoped not. Her cousin who was a psychiatrist in the making said that she had an episode because of the adenaline level in her blood she got from a panic attack. He was the one who kept trying to "psychoanalyse" her. He was fun, the only one who would joke about her episodes with her. He was her favorite.

She wrote down summoning jutsu because she actually had the best summons and she had no way of contacting them and they were cool. Like extremely cool. Piranha level cool. They even had colorful markings, awesome ones, if you asked her.

The original collapsed next to her. Ah, yes the pitiful walk home where she carried her. She's also found out that clones can make other clones but it is exhausting. And they also don't refill chakra nearly as fast as the original so she was going to have to carry her herself.

She placed the original in the bed and popped, making the original twitch slightly and dive deeper in her dreams.

"Good morning everyone" The kids were sitting in the bridge waiting for their sensei who was behind her, or was supposed to be. He had probably stayed behind just to avoid the kids. What an A-grade asshole.

"NEE-CHAN! HI." Naruto light up and moved to stand in front of her so she could ruffle his hair like she did every time when she joined them. He was a sweet boy, just too fucking loud.

"Hello, Arabella-san." Sakura stood up but didn't move from her position in front of her, still stealing side glances to Sasuke.

"Hn" Sakura seemed jealous that he had greeted her. Arabella felt a little sorry for the kid, her painfully obvious crush wasn't getting her anywhere and she was wasting her time.

"Are your shoes new, Sakura? They are pretty." She didn't want to get on her bad side so she just praised her. The kid blushed and looked at her shoes before turning slightly to see is Sasuke had realized before answering a timid yes.

"Where is Kakashi" It didn't even sound like a question. The little shit was demanding to know from her. She suspected he didn't know he was being rude so she just answered with a shrug and biting her tongue. Because he was a kid and didn't mean anything by it.

"He is always soo late Nee-chan, I can't become Hokage if I don't train, believe it!" Naruto chimed in, immediately sharing his discomfort. He liked to talk a lot. Sometimes he talked at her.

"You don't train before he here?" She suggested" You do what he tells you before he tells you, he has to teach you something new, justu and stuff"

"NEE-CHAN that's SO clever." He locked moved by her help and she felt sorry for him, he was clearly affection deprived. Sakura was just nodding fervently. Even Sasuke looked like he agreed.

"Maa, that's not very nice Arabella-chan, I teach them plenty stuff." Kakashi showed up in the worst times… She should have said something worse.

"Well I-"She tried to say but was interrupted by two squeaky voices "YOU'RE LATE." They weren't mad. She was sure this happened everyday even when she wasn't there. It was starting to be funny.

"Well, I am late, but I just wanted you to realize that you could train by yourselves before I told you to. It is a valuable life lesson, sometimes you have to do things by yourself to get better. In the end, you and your team will have to rely on each other." He said, slow and calm.

"That's BULLSHIT" Naruto stated pointing at him. "You just don't want to teach us. You're too lazy."

"Hmm, who knows? We'll never know." Kakashi didn't look affected at all at being called out. "Firstly we are going to the Hokage tower to get a mission. Sadly, Arabella-chan can't come with us. One of you will have to stay behind with her. Hmm" He faked looking thoughtful as he stared one by one at the expectant Sakura, who thought she would be picked, the enthusiastic Naruto, who was waving his hand in the air and calling me me before settling in the stoic Sasuke." Sasuke you stay, the rest let's go."

"Can't he come with us?" Blurted Sakura before blushing. She clearly considered her a threat to her relationship with him, if only she realized how annoying her dream boyfriend really was… Kakashi was doing this to spite her too, isn't he? If Sakura hates her she won't want to go with them as much. Joke on him, she has nothing else to do.

"Why would that be, Sakura? Is there a specific reason you want him to come too?" Wow, Kakashi was not being subtle at all, but then, neither was she.

"W-well" She started pushing her index fingers together and looking away. "The team should be together at all times to ensure teamwork, isn't that right? It's the most important thing in a mission; if the team is a mess the objective will not be met and the mission will be a failure."

"That's right Sakura-chan" He clapped as if he had figured something out, clearly acting. "Why don't we make this like a mission? One of you should guard the client, taking turns, while the others fight. Does that sound alright?"

"I guess…"

"Alright then Sasuke takes the first turn and then Sakura, then Naruto, understood?"

"Hai."

Kakashi and the kids left the bridge and left her alone with Sasuke, who didn't seem eager to talk.

She can't really stand the silence so she was going to talk to him, even if she has to carry the conversation the whole time.

"Thank you for handseals." She mentioned clumsily, just setting a safe topic to talk about.

"Hn" She would have preferred if he hadn't answered.

"You've been a shinobi for a long time? I'm still in the Academy, I'll learn more shinobi stuff. It's fun" Everyone talked about how good Sasuke-kun was, or maybe that was just certain girl.

"Hn"

"You see, I think the Academy jutsu are really cute, I don't know Kawarimi but the otherI'm good. Maybe I henge? Oh! you henge into me and I henge into you, we see if they notice." She laughed childishly.

"Hn" This brat is getting annoying.

"We see if they are finished, if we go to the Hokage tower instead of making them walk back, maybe we-"She had started walking towards the town, she grabbed his arm to get moving before he shouted something at her.

"What?" He motioned gabbing something and letting go" Oh, sorry." She said letting go and stepping away from him. "If we go now we can catch them, or we can stay back" He looked baffled, poor kid has probably never been shown decency, judging by the way Sakura approaches him and other girls interact with him. He was totally hating the attention he was getting, poor boy. If he wasn't so annoying…Wait, probably that was the reason he was so annoying, to avoid unwanted attention; that way girls with decent self-steem will walk away from him. Yeah, he was good looking, but he was a jerk and 12 years old, he should be playing with dolls or something. Being an asshole as a coping mechanism, well…she's heard worse.

She started walking by herself and he followed her, staying a little behind. She just didn't care, she turned around, walking backwards in the empty street and kept talking at him, face to face. She was just ranting to him because he hadn't called her annoying yet and she knew he would if he had considered her such. He wasn't talkative but he didn't hide what he thought.

He was kind of weird, to be honest. She knows deer that are less startled by people than him. "…And I like lying down in the forest in the shadow, what do you do in your free time? You look like your hobbies are cooking or something like that…do you like fishing? You look like not. I hate fishing because fish always laugh me but I like hunting. That is my hobby…" She turned around now that the streets were starting to get more crowded and he walked so he was by her side. He hadn't showed any intention of answering her questions but didn't seem bothered by her ranting. Good.

"… I like nature too. I know a lot about animals and I like to train in the woods. I am friends with animals. They are harmless but when I was little I brought a mountain lion to my house because I gave her cheese. My parents were not happy-"

"We should wait here."

They were at the entrance of the Hokage tower, he was right. She felt like a little kid making a list of the things she did during vacations for school, but she kept talking anyways.

Sasuke's hand twitched for a second and she got alert. He was making this face where he looked unbothered but she could tell he was nervous… Why was he… Oh, two girls were hiding terribly from them in a bush, startling the passerby. They were furiously whispering, presumably about them.

She thought about making a comment about it but didn't. She just kept ranting.

"…My favorite color is blue, sky color. But I can't wear it because it looks bad. And everything always-"She had to stop talking because the girls had thrown a stone at her. She caught it with one hand and started casually throwing it up and down"- always looks bad when it isn't white or black, even with those it looks weird, because of my orange hair. I wish I had normal hair like black or brown."

The girls were loudly plotting something again and she expected another stone to come her way. "It's so annoying, I can't hide, It's just impossible-" She stopped the incoming stone by throwing her own and making them collide halfway. That was so cool of her. She was kind of proud at that.

Naruto waved violently at them while screaming. "WOO-OH, WE ARE HERE. WOO-OH"

"I think they can see us Naruto-baka" Sakura stated walking towards them. Seriously they were two strides away. Kakashi was waving lazily at them.

"Hi, we thought we meet you here, this way the team is closer together like you wanted Sakura-chan." She included her immediately in the conversation because she was already looking at her suspiciously. She didn't like that she had been talking to her boyfriend.

"Hn" Sasuke confirmed. Sakura beamed at the slight praise, poor, poor girl.

"NEE-CHAN! We are doing a C-RANK, believe it!" Naruto excitedly told her.

"We are actually doing a mission out of Konoha so we are leaving tomorrow morning. We're supposed to train and prepare for tomorrow so we have decided to escort you home." Sakura explained.

"That's very nice, Sakura-chan." Arabella smiled at her, "Just follow Kakashi, he knows."

"A-Ah" She stuttered, blushing, "Can I ask why is that? A-Are you Kakashi's girlfriend? Is that why you always come together to the bridge ?"

She avoided the dirty jokes that instantly flooded her mind about 'coming together' and instead answered "We live together." She was not really helping but the face she made was worth it. It was true, plain and simple. God if only she could play them properly…She could tell she had the full attention of the three kids, Kakashi was looking away, ignoring the conversation. He didn't look like he was going to answer any questions.

"WHAT? You are living with Kakashi-sensei, but you are so pretty Nee-chan how did you end up with him." She actually laughed at this.

Kakashi looked at him" Maa, that's not very nice Naruto. You are hurting my feelings"

"Can I ask you, how did you convince your parents to let you live with Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked shyly "It sounds like a lot of trouble."

"My family is dead now." She answered easily. Sakura visibly winced, sorry girlie I can't put it in any other way. Was that too blunt?

"I'm so sorry I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright they've been dead for a long time." She smiled warmly, Sasuke was as shocked as Sakura and Naruto was thinking silently. It was probably a weird moment for the three of them, they probably didn't know anyone who have known death like she had. "And about the other thing… what Kakashi said?"

"He didn't say anything."

"Hmm, I won't say either."

"But that's not fair!" Naruto said, joining the conversation again, he had been quiet for a while; a short while, but a while nonetheless.

"How did you met Kakashi-sensei, Arabella-san?" Sakura asked clearly trying to make her spill some information on her sensei.

"You didn't tell them anything about me, Kakashi?" She asked him instead of answering. He said something about it being her choice or something. He probably just didn't want to explain. "We met in the woods, I was going to give some meat to a blind baby raccoon and he-"

"That's classified."

"And then we walked to Konoha and I had-" She said gesturing to her shirt, how it had been bloodied.

"That's classified too."

"And now I'm here, living with Kakashi. Tadaa"

"You didn't say anything!" Sakura protested. "Not even what part of the woods, was it training grounds 53?"

"It wasn't in Konoha or in fire country." Kakashi answered for her; that detailed didin't go over her head but she put it aside for the moment. The three kids were really curious about her, they were cute. They clearly wanted to ask.

She smiled sweetly "My family died so I lived in the woods and then Kakashi found me." And forced me to get here, how did you even say kidnapped? Kakashi didn't seem bothered by her revealing this information, since it was kid-friendly.

"And then you fell in love! That's a beautiful love story… I wish…" Sakura squirmed, sneaking a look to Sasuke yet again. She kinda understood now why he was such a little bitch. If she had to go through this everyday… She'd be an asshole too.

"Wait, why were you in the woods, couldn't you have gone to a town or something?"

"Naruto, you can't say that" Sakura reprimanded him in a screaming whisper, she just waved it off.

"I can talk to animals" She shrugged, but she probably should have. She was just so scared that she would be found again by the people who killed her parents….And she would have had to answer a lot of questions she wanted to avoid thinking about.

"Wait… the mountain lion… was it true?" Sasuke asked her.

"Yeah, her name was Sarah" She had been a lovely feline, much nicer than the rest. She had found that her cubs had grown too much and they left her side to live on their own. They spent like two days together before her parents told her she couldn't have her as a pet because it was suspicious and they didn't want to draw the attention of the rest of villagers. "I don't like lying" Even if she has lied more than she'd liked.

"WHAT! That is so COOL, can you talk with birds too?" Naruto appeared in front of her catching all her attention. This kid was so obvious, he didn't like how she had given Sasuke information about her that he didn't already know.

"Yeah"

"And bugs?"

"Sort of, yeah"

"And hawks?"

"Those are birds, Naruto-baka"

"Really? I thought they were-"He was interrupted by a masked figure dressed in black head to toe. She recognized them immediately, one of the threats that had been following her. They were wearing a metal plate and an animal mask, Kakashi recognized them as 'bird' and she could only tell they were a woman after she spoke:" The Third summons Arabella-san in his office. Let's go."

Kakashi nodded to her but she was already at her side waving good-bye at the kids. Look at me so tamed and obedient. She really hoped she was not taken to the interrogation room again. 'Bird' did something ninja and they appeared in the Hokage's office. She didn't have time to contemplate the space as the floor started spinning and she gagged. That was not nice.

"Sorry about that, Arabella-san, I'm afraid the Shunshin isn't as fun when you are a passenger. Do you need a glass of water?" The third Hokage stood above of her in a chair with a long wooden pipe on his hand. "Thank you Bird."

The kneeling girl disappeared from her side, presumably in the same technique she used to bring her here, the shunshin. "No, I'm fine, thank you" She shoot back the politeness she recieed but she had no doubt this was about to go south real easily. She was going to be as polite as possible, just to avoid any trouble at all, she had no doubt this man held her destiny. Bird had been kneeling maybe she should-

"Oh, there's no need for that, stand up, you are not a Kunoichi of the leaf" He took a drag of his pipe "…yet" He then filled the room with puffy white smoke.

Oh, that was quick, he was going to test her on her capabilities and loyalty to the village to determine if she was going to become a Shinobi. He was trying to test her, but she knew too well how this things went.

He remained quiet, staring at her, waiting to meet her eyes. She gave in and stared back. She didn't have to fake the raw curiosity in her gaze. He coughed and she had no doubt it was fake.

"I hope you don't mind the lack of traducer, I have heard of your exponential growth in the understanding of the language."

"I don't mind" Even if she protested she doubted that he would postpone it. It was clever, it placed her in a position of inferiority, beginning by the position of the Hokage, above her eye-level, even though he is sitting, and finishing by the obstacle of the language. She can't lie convincingly if she can't speak properly.

"How are you liking the Academy? I have heard of your progress." First question, it begins asking for her opinion, but he isn't looking to improve the system.

"I enjoy training, but I am behind the rest." She considered mentioning Izuma-sensei, but there was no way she was gonna drag his name with her, making him a suspect. This was nothing but an intervention, but he had nothing on her. She knew she was being followed, they didn't know she knew so everything she did in front of them was considered natural. She had that on her favor, maybe they'll try to test her? By giving her a false opportunity to escape.

"That's hardly the case, your teacher, Izuma-san has asked for an early promotion to the third year class, which is quite the achievement, what do you think of it?"

"If Izuma-sensei thinks I should, I agree. "He brought her for this? Is this the mere introduction to the true reason?

"Why do you believe you are behind, Arabella-san?" the Hokage was serene but careful with his words. He wasn't satisfied by her answer.

"I know I am behind in Physical con-di-tio-ning" It was a hard word she hadn't had time to study properly, it also helped to make her look innocent and childish. Still fucking embarrasing though. "They are faster and stronger than me and I need help with taijutsu. I don't know genjustu."

"I see, well, I've heard you are doing fine in taijutsu, but I am afraid that the henge and clone techniques are the farthest the Academy can take you in genjustu, you would have to apprentice under a genjustu specialist if you consider studying the art." Was he going to be recommend her to someone? "Have you ever been referred as 'tensei'? "

She opened her notebook and looked for the word… Genius…

"Maybe the correct term would be prodigy" She closed her notebook with one hand and placed it again in her hip.

"I am not a genius or a pro-di-gy, I have to work hard for my archieve-ments. Everything I can do it's because I work hard" She stated with a little difficulty. There was no way she was getting that kind of treatment. A title like that was an invitation to be exploited to her maximum, she was already pretty ambitious by herself. They would also treat her differently, people don't like perfect people so she would be harrashed to some point by others. It was also morally disgushting to place some people abovee others.

"I see, very well then. May I ask you, why do you want to become a shinobi?" Does she truly want to, or has it been imposed upon her arrival there. She's just gone with the flow so far and maybe this was her chance out, what does she want to do?

"I don't know" She answered truthfully, maybe not to the question he asked but it was still an answer.

"It is understandable, being asked so abruptly. I ask you to think about it and then answer the question. Have you ever heard of the will of fire?" He took a slow drag of his pipe. "Konoha is a special place, you see." He stood up and walked to the window "It is a place where every year shinobi are born, raised, grow old, fight, and die to protect their home. Their desire to protect their own often overpower their fears and it becomes the Will of fire."

"Protect isn't a desire, it's a need. Everyone who loves someone knows it." She commented abruptly. He merely turned his head and smiled at her before turning away again.

"These people are precious to me. My desire to protect them often blinds me, I am glad I wasn't blinded by your foreignness and welcomed you into the town. I think many ninja could learn something from you. However I have to warn you, if you attempt the slightest to act against the village you will face repercussions." It wasn't so much defying the town as defying his person, his position on it.

"Arabella-san, keep working like you're doing and maybe next time you enter my office you will kneel."

"Hai, Hokage-sama" He seemed extremely pleased. She took it as dismissal and left the room. Actually, after dealing with Manda nothing was as scary.