Hello everyone~
So, I had to redo this like 3 times T.T
Not rewrite, but I was having complications with the formatting and blah
So Kakashi's note has those horizontal lines to make it more clear
Anyways, hope y'all enjoy!
~.~
Last Time:
"Shikamaru! Kyoko's ready for your date!" Yoshino shouted.
"Mom, it's not a date!" I heard Shikamaru yell from the living room.
I walked into the living room to see Shikamaru sitting on the couch.
"Okay, let's go to the stupid festival," I told him.
He looked at me and blushed.
"Wow, you loo-"
"Kyoko, you gotten even cuter!" Kakashi told me, "Yoshino, you did a wonderful job."
"Thank you! I'd love to borrow her and dress her up some more," Yoshino told him, "Oh! Let's get a photo with you two."
"Really, mom?" Shikamaru sighed.
"Don't talk back to your mother," Yoshino scolded, "Come on, stand next to each other."
Shikamaru complied, and stood next to me. Yoshino snapped a photo and smiled.
"I'll be sure to make a copy for you too, Kyoko," Yoshino promised.
I sighed.
"Already tired?" Shikamaru asked.
"Your mom knows how to tie an obi," I said, "I'll have good posture for the rest of the day."
He snickered, "You do look really pretty in that."
"O-oh," I said, surprised, "L-Let's just go to the stupid festival."
"Alright, lets go," He said, holding the door open for me.
"Have fun you two!" Yoshino shouted as we left.
Yoshino turned to Kakashi, "Kyoko really has changed."
"More than you think," Kakashi told her.
"Are you gonna be attending the festival?" Yoshino asked.
"I have some things to discuss with the Hokage beforehand," Kakashi told her, "Thanks for helping Kyoko."
With that, he left.
It was around 6:00 pm when we got to the festival. There were a lot of games, food stands, everything looked really...fun. My eyes wondered around curiously.
"Wow, you've never actually been to a festival before," Shikamaru smiled at my childish behaviour.
"And it would have stayed that way," I told him.
"Come on, you have to be a little happy about coming," He nudge me.
"We'll find out at the end of the day," I told him.
We wondered around, looking at the things they put up. Shikamaru suddenly put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close.
"What are you-" I then noticed a couple guys turning their heads away after he did that.
"Troublesome," I heard Shikamaru muttered.
'Wow, you're turning all these heads,' Fuzen said, 'You might look too pretty.'
"You hungry?" Shikamaru asked me.
"Hmm? Uh kinda," I told him.
We walked towards where the food stands were but then we got engulfed by a crowd. I felt someone grab my hand.
"Wouldn't wanna lose you, now do we?" Shikamaru told me.
I felt a blush crawl across my face. He pulled me out of the crowd.
"There we go...what happened to you?" He asked.
I had a cat ear headband on top of my head, I was holding a fan, it was pink and had sakura petal prints on it. I also had a candy apple and cotton candy.
"I don't know..." I said, looking at the things I got.
Shikamaru laughed.
"You might be a little too cute," He told me.
"Pft, yeah right," I scoffed.
"Well you still wanna get food? Or are you gonna eat that?" Shikamaru asked.
"This isn't really food..." I said, looking around.
I spotted Sakura and Ino.
I quickly walked over to them. Sakura was wearing a red Yukata with pink sakura flower prints all over it and a white obi. Ino was wearing a deep purple with lavender butterflies on the bottom of the outfit with a blue obi.
"You look so pretty, Kyoko!" Ino gushed.
"Thanks," I said.
"Kyoko, you came? I didn't think you would," Sakura said quietly.
"...uh...thanks?" I didn't know how to answer that, "Anyways, do you guys want this? A bunch of people gave these to me but I don't need it," I told them, "This fan matches your outfit well, Sakura." I gave her the fan and the candy apple and gave Ino the cotton candy.
"Eh? Are you sure?" Sakura asked me.
"I don't need it, so it's fine," I told them.
"It's your birthday, shouldn't it be the other way around?" Ino asked.
'...does everyone know it's my birthday now...?' I sighed.
"It's nothing I need," I shrugged, about to take the cat ears off.
"Keep those, they suit you," Ino told me.
"Uh, sure," I said, even though it felt embarrassing.
I grabbed Sakura by the shoulder.
"..umm...sorry about hitting you..." I whispered, "I hope I didn't bruise your cheek or anything..."
"Oh, i-it's okay..." She said, "I...should've thought about what I said...and how he-er and you would feel..."
"Well, least you know."
"Wait..." Ino stared at my hair, "You cut your hair?!"
"Yeah," I said, "It was getting in the way."
"I can see your entire face!" She gasped, "But did you have to cut your hair that short?"
"It's not that short," I told her.
"I won't be able to do as many braids," She sighed.
"It'll grow back," I assured.
We waved bye and I left with Shikamaru to get something to eat.
"You made up with Sakura?" Shikamaru asked.
"Uh...kinda?" I sighed, "Kakashi told me to make up with her, since we're gonna be on the same team and all."
"Come on, Kyoko, let's get some food."
~.~
"There's food stands all around here, go get something you want," He told me.
I looked around the various food stands. I quickly went for the dango stand. Shikamaru followed me.
"How is dango different from the candy apple and cotton candy?" He asked.
"Wha?" I asked, I had dango in my mouth and a few sticks in each hand.
Shikamaru laughed.
"Never mind," He told me.
I gave him a stick and walked to a bench. He followed me. By the time he got to the bench, I was on my last stick.
"Whoa, you eat almost as fast as Choji," He chuckled.
"When it comes to dango, I can probably eat faster than him," I joked, finishing the last stick.
"So besides food, what else is there at a festival?" I asked.
Shikamaru finished eating his dango.
"Well, there's a bunch of games and prizes and stuff. People have stands to just sell things in general...yeah," He said.
I thought for a moment.
"Okay, let's go play a game," I told him.
He agreed and we walked over to the area where most of the games were. We played a bunch of random games that were set up. One of the games we played had stuffed animals as prizes.
"Hey look, that one looks like Akumu," I joked, pointing at the black cat plush.
"I'll get it for you," Shikamaru offered.
"All you gotta do is knock down the bottles with a ball," The person at the stand told him.
"Either it's really easy, or rigged," I whispered to Shikamaru.
He laughed, but went to try. The man gave him three balls for three tries. He threw one, which knocked down all the bottles.
"That looks too easy," I told him.
"It's for fun, here, you try," he gave me a ball.
The man set the bottles up again. I threw the ball, it hit the bottles, and broke some of them.
"...oops...sorry..." I said.
Shikamaru sweat dropped.
"It's alright, I'm prepared," The man told me, bringing out new bottles, "Some ninjas don't know their own strength.
Shikamaru got me the black cat plush and we continued to walk around and play random games.
~.~
"So basically, you try to catch as many fish as you can with the paper net until it breaks, and the amount of fish you caught is your prize," Shikamaru explained to me.
"I see, you aren't gonna play?" I asked, looking in the small tank full of goldfishes.
"Naw, I'm not into fish," He told me.
"What made you think I would be interested in fish?" I asked.
"I dunno, you said you wanted to play games, this is a game," He told me.
"I don't think I would want any," I said.
"Well, just play for fun, if you don't want the fish, you can give them back," Shikamaru told me.
"Eh...alright," I said, looking at the fish.
Because of the paper net, I was only able to get two.
"...I bet I could have gotten more if they weren't all at the bottom," I pouted.
He patted my head.
"They knew you were coming for them," Shikamaru joked.
I gave the two fish back and we continued to wander around.
We continued to play some other games til we got tired.
"Need a break?" Shikamaru asked, "Let's sit on the stairs over there."
I sighed, sitting down.
"I'm warm," I said.
"Being trapped in a crowd will do that to you," Shikamaru chuckled, "The fireworks are gonna start soon."
"Fireworks?" I asked.
Shikamaru looked at me.
"I know that you haven't been to a festival before, but don't tell me that you've never seen them," He said.
"I've seen them before, I just never liked them," I told him.
"Really?" He asked.
"Yeah, their so noisy, I couldn't study," I pouted.
He laughed.
"Well, you're not studying now, so you might like them now," He told me, "Come on."
He stood up and pulled me up. He held my wrist and pulled me off somewhere.
"Okay, where are we going?" I asked.
"To a good place to watch the fireworks," He told me.
I looked at him curiously, but continued to follow him.
Shikamaru dragged me to a wide opened field near a river. We sat in the field, waiting for the fireworks display to start.
"You realized that you didn't have to do this, right?" I told him.
He looked at me with a confused expression.
"Do what?" He asked.
"Show me around the festival," I said.
"Well, it's a good thing that I did, for both me and you," He told me, laying on the grass.
"How so?" I asked.
"Well, got me out of the house earlier, so I wouldn't have my mom yell at me more," Shikamaru said, I snickered, "And you wouldn't have known what to do, that and probably try to ditch the festival."
"I admit, I was thinking of many ways to try and ditch it," I admitted, earning a laugh from the Nara.
"You happy you came?" He asked me, laying on the grass.
I thought for a moment.
"I guess," I told him.
I let out a sigh, waiting for the fireworks.
"What's up?" Shikamaru asked.
"I'm...worried about tomorrow," I said.
"The exercise?" He asked.
I nodded.
"Did you talk to Kakashi about it?" He asked.
"He dodged the questions and changes the subject," I said.
"Well, I don't think you would fail," Shikamaru said.
"Thing is, I've never seen Kakashi with a student," I said, "What if he fails all of us? He can't favour me just because I'm his sister. I don't want a pity pass."
"Talk to him," Shikamaru said lazily, "You needa get the answers, you force them out. That's what the Kyoko I know would do."
"If I get the chance," I sighed.
"Kyoko-chan!" I heard someone call my name.
I turned to see Naruto running up to us.
"Oh, Naruto," I said.
Behind him was Sasuke, Sakura, the rest of squad nine, and squad 8.
"Kyoko-chan, you look cute," Kiba told me.
Akamaru ran up to me.
"Thank you, Kiba. Hello Akamaru!" I petted the white dog's head.
"Kiki-chan, was this where you were?" Sasuke asked.
"Naw, I was around the festival with Shikamaru," I told him.
I spotted Naruto's suspicious grin, along with Ino trying to hide something behind her.
"...what's going on?" I questioned.
"Happy Birthday, Kyoko!" Everyone shouted.
Ino brought out a cake from behind her. A bright candle sticking right from the middle of it. I stared at them in surprise.
"...so everyone knows it's my birthday?" I asked.
"Come on, Kyoko. Don't give us that! We all got you this cake," Ino pouted.
"You guys didn't have to," I told them, "...but thanks."
I gave them a small smile. They all beamed at my expression. Everyone sat together on the grass fields, sharing the cake. I yawned. Shikamaru sat up.
"Tired?" He asked.
"Kinda...I gotta wake up early too," I told him.
"Why?" He asked me.
"Because I have Kakashi as my Sensei," I sighed.
Shikamaru snickered.
"What are the odds?" He asked.
"I know right? I have to meet up with everyone at 5 am," I sighed.
"Sucks for you," Shikamaru smirked.
"Who's your Sensei?" I asked him.
"Sarutobi Asuma," He answered, "Did Kakashi tell you about how we could be sent back to the academy?"
"Yeah," I nodded.
"So troublesome," He sighed.
I yawned again and leaned on Shikamaru's shoulder.
"I swear, if you fall asleep, I will leave you here," Shikamaru told me.
I lightly laughed.
"Do that, and I'll send Akumu after you," I told him, closing my eyes.
~.~
I woke up from the sound of an explosion, followed by a bright yellow light in the sky.
"Huh?" More explosions and colours painted the night sky.
I gazed at the sky.
"So you were asleep," Shikamaru chuckled.
"Shut up," I told him.
We watched the fireworks with everyone on the grass field, no one removing their gaze from the sky. I looked at everyone and couldn't help but bare a small smile. It seemed so perfect, like life was worth living.
~.~
"The fireworks were so pretty!" Sakura chimed when the display was over.
I nodded in agreement.
"Kyoko, you were so cute," Ino smirked.
"Oh, yeah the yukata was a present, and Shikamaru's mom helped me put it on," I said.
"Not just the yukata," Ino told me.
I looked at her with confusion.
"...I don't understand, what did I do?" I asked.
The white blond threw her arm over me and pulled me into some sort of head lock/hug.
"What do you mean you don't understand?" She asked.
I refrained myself from throwing her off me and into the river.
"It means what it means," I said bluntly, still in her head lock/hug.
She released me.
"When you were sleeping on Shikamaru," She smirked.
I felt my face heat up. Thankfully, it was dark out.
"And?" I asked.
She would not stop smirking.
"I didn't think you were the kind to like someone like that, since it took you forever to get used to us," Ino said, poking my arm.
"I only slept on him cause he's surprisingly comfortable. I can sleep on anyone here, and it wouldn't mean I like them like that," I told her, "Are you sure you aren't reading into this too much in desperation of trying to play matchmaker?"
"I'm just kidding~" Ino laughed.
We all said our goodbyes and parted ways to go home.
"So," Shikamaru started, "Did you have fun?"
"Maybe," I said.
He smirked, "I'll take that as a yes."
"Take it as whatever you like," I told him, "...there's no proper way of taking the Yukata off, right? I can just take it off?"
"I'm pretty sure you don't need help taking off the Yukata," He told me.
Shikamaru dropped me off at my place, we said our good nights, and he left.
~.~
I entered my house and searched for my Sensei.
'Where is he?' I wondered, looking all over the house, 'He's not in the kitchen...nowhere downstairs...I doubt he's in the basement...he's not even in his room,' I checked to see if I could sense his chakra sign, 'Nothing...' I sighed.
I went in my room to change out of my clothes. I changed into shorts and a t-shirt as pj's. I folded the Yukata and placed it on my desk for now. I took the hair stick out, letting my hair fall free. I spotted Akumu on my bed. I placed the push cat in front of him. He looked at it, poked it with his paw, and it fell over. Akumu turned around and leaped off the bed, looking unamused. I smiled at his act. I left the plush like that, leaving my room. I went downstairs into the living room, plopping onto the couch, waiting for Kakashi to come back home. Not even five minutes passed and my eye lids felt heavy. Not to mention Akumu decided to curl up on my lap.
'Maybe just a little nap,' I thought as I closed my eyes.
~.~
Kakashi knew that the dark-haired girl was waiting for him, he decided to help clean up after the festival, just until he knows that Kyoko had fallen asleep. He entered the house from his window, he sensed she was in the living room, hopefully asleep. The Hatake crept downstairs and quietly went into the living room. He found the girl asleep on the couch with a ball of black fur curled up on her stomach.
'I'm safe for now,' He thought as he picked up the girl and carried her up to her room, with the cat still on top of her.
Kakashi placed her on her bed and threw the covers on top. He noticed the black cat plush.
'Looks like someone had fun, for once,' He smiled, leaving the room.
~.~
I woke up to the sound of birds, and Akumu pawing my face.
"Akumu, not now, five more minutes," I told him, turning over on my side, pulling the covers over me.
'...blankets? Wasn't I on the couch...waiting for Kakashi...' I threw my blankets off, I saw Akumu waiting by the door.
'It's...4:07. He should still be here,' I thought, rushing out of my room and down the stairs.
"Kakashi!" I said angrily.
"Morning," He said calmly.
"I've got questions and you have the answers," I told him.
"Are you going to go meet our team like that?" He asked.
'He knows what I'm gonna ask,' I thought angrily, 'I need to know what he wants from us to be able to pass.'
"Kakashi, what exactly does this team need to do to pass?" I asked.
"Seriously, you're still in your pj's," he avoided the question.
"You never passed a Genin team. Do you just not want to deal with a team?" I asked impatiently.
"Also, your hair's messed up, and you're not even rea-"
"Kakashi," I said in a stern voice.
He sighed.
"I didn't pass any teams because they never understood the exercise, and if your team doesn't either, than you guys don't pass," Kakashi told me.
I thought for a minute.
"What if some, or one, of us did? Will we fail with the rest? Or will we continue on?" I asked.
"Those who understand will be able to pass, but if they want to take past in any exam to move up a rank, they need to be in a team of at lease three to enter," Kakashi told me, "Or if possible, get consent from the Hokage to be able to enter."
"That's all I needed to know," I said.
I turned around and went back upstairs.
"Better hurry, it's almost 4:30" He told me.
"Yeah, yeah," I said closing the door to my room.
~.~
I did my morning routine and got dressing in my now regular outfit. It was almost five. I adjusted my weapon pouches and tied my Katana around mt waist. I tied my forehead protector around my neck securely. I went downstairs to see that Kakashi had disappeared.
'He left already?' I wondered. I found a note on the fridge.
Hey Kyoko, you mind making lunch for you and your friends? I gotta do some things before the exercise so I'll be a little late. Thanks.
-Kakashi
I sighed.
'Fine, but don't call them my friends,' I thought as I quickly prepared some lunches.
I made rice balls, hot dogs look like squids, rolled up egg omelettes, and rabbit ear apples.
'...what am I doing? Making this cute is wasting time,' I thought to myself.
I shrugged, the damage was done, I just packed everything, grabbed an apple, and went to the training grounds where I was suppose to meet the team at.
~.~
"Kyoko, you're close for time, you're lucky that Sensei isn't here yet," Naruto said sluggishly.
"Well, would you be mad at me if I told you I was taking some time to made lunches for you guys?" I asked him, taking a bite out of my apple.
"Never mind," He smiled.
"Hey, Sensei said not to eat breakfast," Sakura scolded, looking at my apple.
"Then don't, princess. I'm the one eating the apple, not you. Plus, if you were smart, you would know that if you did eat something in the morning, it gives you more energy for the day instead of not eating at all," I told her, tossing the core into a nearby trashcan.
I placed the bento boxes on a nearby stump and sat where they were all standing.
"Oh, by the way, Kakashi said he was gonna be late," I told them. Naruto sat down next to me.
"How late?" He asked.
"I dunno," I told him.
A few hours past and Sakura joined me and Naruto on the ground. Sasuke stayed planted, standing in one spot, with his stoic face.
~.~
"Morning," Kakashi said, finally arriving.
"You're late!" Sakura and Naruto shouted.
"Ah, sorry. You see, a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way around," He told us.
"I'm surprised that path took you five hours to get here," I yawned.
Kakashi ignored me and walked over to the stump I put the lunches on. He set a timer on the stump.
"Okay, it's set till lunch," He told us.
"Your mission," Kakashi held out three bells, "Is to get these bells from me. Those who succeed on getting a bell, passes. Those who don't, fails, and won't get lunch. Got it?" We nodded.
'So I probably made lunch for no reason?' I sighed.
"You won't be able to get the bells unless you have the full intention of killing me, as in use your weapons," He told us.
"But Sensei, those weapons are too dangerous!" Sakura said in concern.
"Especially if you couldn't dodge that eraser," Naruto snickered.
"Class clowns are usually the weakest links," Kakashi said, Naruto's smile was replaced with a scowl.
"When I say 'Start', you can begin," Kakashi told us.
Naruto pulled out a kunai, and ran at our Sensei with anger. Kakashi easily caught his arm and turned the kunai at Naruto's throat, while the Uzumaki was still holding the weapon. I face palmed at the blond's action.
'Whoa, he's so fast,' Sakura thought.
'So this is a Jounin...' Sasuke leered at the older ninja.
"Don't be so hasty," The older ninja told him, "I didn't say start yet."
Kakashi released him as the boy made a noise of discomfort.
"But you came at me with the full intention of killing me. So...how can I put this?" Kakashi chuckled, "I'm starting to like you guys. Okay, get ready...start!"
We all took off in different directions. Well...most of us. Naruto stood out in the open, arms crossed, and a huge grin across his face.
'Stupid,' I thought.
"You know, compared to the others, your a little...weird," Kakashi told the Uzumaki.
Knowing Naruto, he's probably gonna mess up, then bring himself back up, then fall again.
"Oh yeah? Well the only thing weird here is your haircut!" Naruto said, dashing towards him.
"Ninjutsu tactic one: Taijutsu," Kakashi said, pulling something out from his weapons pouch.
Naruto stopped in his tracks.
'He's not pulling out a weapon,' I thought as Kakashi pulled out an orange book.
I sighed, 'Of course its that book.'
"Go on, make your move," Kakashi told the yellow-haired ninja.
"Huh? Why...why are you reading that book?" Naruto asked.
"Why? To find out what happens in the story, of course," Kakashi told him, "Don't let it bother you, with your weak attacks it doesn't really matter if I'm reading or not."
I thought for a moment, 'I could probably study and fight Naruto at the same time.'
"I'm gonna pulverize you!" Naruto growled.
As I thought, Kakashi had blocked or dodged every attack Naruto sent. Naruto sent a punch but Kakashi had disappeared before he could get hit.
"Don't let you enemy get behind you."
Kakashi appeared behind him. He was holding the book between his hands, which were in the seal of the tiger.
"Naruto! Run away! He's going to kill you!" Sakura shouted, giving away her spot.
I wondered if Kakashi was planing to hit Naruto with a powerful attack, but of course I was proven wrong.
"Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu," Kakashi said, jabbing his fingers into Naruto's ass, sending the ninja into the lake.
"A Thousand Years Of Pain!" Kakashi shouted, then got back to his book.
'...we have two major idiots,' I sighed.
Naruto got out of the river and growled at Kakashi.
"You look pretty wobbly for someone who's going to surpass the Hokage one day," Kakashi mocked.
"Well, I didn't eat breakfast! How am I suppose to defeat you with an empty stomach?" Naruto asked.
I heard silent growls of hunger from two other teammates.
'Haha, suckers,' I smirk.
'Breakfast? I didn't even eat dinner, this was not a good time to start on a diet,' Sakura sighed.
"You just caught me off guard! Believe it! I'm so hungry, I don't have any strength to fight anymore, but that's not gonna stop me," Naruto encouraged himself.
He used his famous Shadow Clone Jutsu and went for Kakashi.
I decided to move, lay some traps while Kakashi was distracted.
~.~
It's happening!
The bell challenge~
Signing off,
Bluebirb