It was raining that afternoon. Everyone was rushing back to their homes, pulling back their grocery stands to keep them from getting wet. Aki was doing double the time. Hell no, she didn't want to be seen! Her only umbrella of safety was her vest, but that was starting to get wet. A drop fell down onto her nose, and once again, it changed into ink and back to water as it fell to the ground. Why did her apartment have to be on the other side of town?! Not that many were out on the streets as Aki hurtled down the rows of cream colored apartments.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" She ran faster than she would have guessed, but being the visitor from reality, things changed to what was "real" to them.
She finally got to her apartment, the rain grew heavier. Under the awning of her door, Aki pulled off the soaking vest, and wiped the ink from her hair.
Mew?
(Oh, God. Please don't torture me like this! What did I do wrong now?!) Aki looked down, and was shocked beyond thoughts.
Shivering in the rain was a tiny black kitten, its wet fur matted and dirty.
"Mew?" It squeaked, looking for companionship.
If there was one weakness Aki had, it was her love for cats. Fat, thin, short, long, small, big; she loved them all. She squatted down, holding a hand out in the rain. The kitten looked confused at the ink that was flowing through the cracks of her fingers, and crept cautiously towards the open hand. Aki was smiling as the kitten sniffed her fingers, and rubbed her head into her palm. Aki could tell it was a she; it was something a cat otaku could do.
"You're soaked. Do you wanna come in?" The kitten walked right into her lap, purring deeply.
Aki cooed as she stroked the car's ears. She picked up the cat, wrapped her up in her vest, and brought her in.
Aki's apartment was simple. It had three rooms: One was a bedroom, one was for a kitchen and the last was a bathroom. Aki had come to own this place when she landed in the Naruto realm. Her currency had switched to Konoha's, which means instead of having her life savings, she had a fricken' bank in her pocket!
Mind you, the apartment she got was cheap. It was a run down building at first, but with the help of Kakashi, Iruka and some others, Aki's apartment looked as though it was just built. Aki had done the interior design, her color schemes amazing to the eye. She even added a fireplace, just for the hell of it (and because she liked the feeling of being near a lit one, especially at night.).
Aki set the kitten on her bed, and went into the kitchen for some food and the bathroom for two towels. She lit a fire in the fireplace, even though it was dusk time, and sat down on the bed with a bowl of chicken- flavored ramen wedged between her thighs. She started to rub the wet fur to rid of the water, the kitten purring and meowing every few seconds.
"Oh, you like this." Aki rubbed faster, teasing the kitten playfully.
The kitten replied by sucking on Aki's finger, but them it caught a familiar scent. Its sonar like ears perked up and its little yellow eyes caught sight of the ramen bowl. Pulling out of the towel, the kitten made its way to the steaming cup of heaven, licking her muzzle.
"Oh no. This is for me." Aki lifted the bowl out of reach for the kitten.
The kitten squatted down like a leopard, her rump wiggling in readiness. Faster than light, the kitten leapt onto Aki's shoulder, and stole a dangling ramen noodle. She jumped back down and started nibbling away.
"You like ramen noodles as much as the next guy!" Aki went into the kitchen for a second, smaller bowl.
Hours had passed, and the kitten decided it was time for bed. The kitten stretched out her arms and legs, whimpering a little mew before curling up on the pillow next to Aki's. She watched her, thinking of a name to call her.
"Night…? No, too bland. Salem…Sounds too boyish. Well, my last kitten's name was Karma-" The kitten woke up as she said the name.
""Karma"? Is that what you want to be called?" The kitten purred as if to say "yes".
Aki grinned as she got onto her bed, her back lying against the headboard. She picked up the book sitting on her nightstand, and opened up to the book- marked page. Even though it was written in kanjis, Aki knew what it read on the cover and inside:
MEDICINAL HERBS & THEIR USES
VOL. 7:
SEDATIVES & ANESTETHICS
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Aki woke up the next morning with a rush.
"Oh, God, I'm gonna be SO late!" She rushed into the bathroom to brush her teeth.
"Crap, why didn't she wake me!?" She struggled to put on her sandals as she hopped to the door.
She wrapped a cord around her hair, and tied it to keep her ponytail together.
"I'm leavin'! Bye!" She picked up her bag, slung over her shoulder, and swung the door open and shut.
Karma stood there, baffled at what just happened. The door slowly creaked open, and there stood Aki. Her head was bowed, a smirk on her face. She chuckled as she came back into her apartment, closing the door softly behind her.
Evidently, her school bio- clock had gone off.
"You are such an idiot, Aki." She said to herself, placing her bookbag on the chair next to the kitchen table, "What time is it?"
She looked on the digital clock to see that it was 9AM. The sun was blazing in the sky.
"Well, if I'm awake, might as well get to it." She picked up a few bills from her secret stash, and walked out the door.
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"Anything special you're doing with that, miss?" The store clerk was cheerful, but slightly suspicious of Aki buying fifty yards of thick fabric.
"Need it for a trip." He didn't catch Aki's pun.
"Okay, have a nice day!" He waved goodbye as Aki walked through the door.
"You too!" She waved back before bumping headfirst into a passer by.
Her change fell to the dirt, clinking against each other.
"Geez, I'm so sorry!" The stranger bent down to pick up the stray coins.
"No, it's my fault. I wasn't looking." Aki looked up, and stiffened a bit.
She had bumped straight into an Anbu, wearing a tiger mask outlined in black paint.
"Is anything the matter?" Even though the mask was intimidating, he had a gentle voice.
"No, I- I'm sorry. Thanks for the help." She fixed her glasses and was off.
The Anbu scratched the back of his head, and walked away, his black cloak swirling in the breeze.
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"Okay, I got the wood, I got the cloth, I got the tools…"She was checking off her list, pointing at each topic, "And I've got the books! Right, let's get to it!"
Aki had built an addition to the side of her apartment, near the back. It was intended for gardening, but the plants hadn't been on sale nor were they the kinds she liked. So instead, she turned it into her workshop for the time being. No power tools. Damn. Oh well. She checked her book on aviation, reading over the standards of flight. Sure, no one had ever heard of a plane before, and if she had mentioned one, they'd probably stare at her like there was no tomorrow. But it had talked about bird's flight, since it was more of an ornithologist's book.
The wings had to be curved slightly to create lift. The tail had to be long to control flight. The feathers (in this case, the cloth) had to be tightly packed, but baggy to let wind catch to also produce lift. The bird's wingspan had to be double their body length, and depending on their weight, the wings would have to be longer.
Aki knew she was 150 pounds, so her wingspan had to be at least, what..? Fifteen yards? Maybe more? Had she bought the right wood to support her weight? Well, only one way to find out. She began to take measurements, drawing line of cutting with her pencil. After drawing out ten long stilts of wood, she went for the saw in her toolbox, and began sawing away, wiping her brow from sweat. After the pieces had been cut, she then took a hammer and nails, and began pounding them into the settled stilts. After cursing and swearing for two hours, she stopped and looked at her finished frame. Sure, it needed some sanding, but apart from that, it was one hell of a piece of handiwork.
"Mr.Simmins better damn well give me full marks in carpentry class." She said, sucking her sore and untimely fingers.
The sun was settings, and she was worn out. She locked up garden gate (not like it mattered) and went up to her apartment. Funny it was called an apartment; no one else lived in that building except her. And Karma.
"Hey, boo!" Aki bent down to scratch Karma's ears.
The kitten responded with purring.
"You know, you're just like my last…" Her words trailed off, making her think.
She shook her head to rid of the thought, and went to take a shower.
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Aki was standing on a medium sized hill, holding her first glider in one hand, and the weight in the other. She compared 150 pounds to the closet thing that a human was made out of, so the weight was a human dummy filled with water. She strapped it in, and waited for a good breeze to come by.
Aki felt the wind pick up rather fast, and Aki hoisted up the glider. God, did she really weigh that much?! Carefully placing her footing firmly in the dirt, Aki revved back the glider, and threw it forward with all her might.
It's flight time: 0.2 seconds
Aki heard the frame groan under the weight of the dummy, and snapped, making the glider crumple to the ground below.
"Aw shit!" She skidded down the hillside to salvage what she could. Firewood really.
At least she hadn't used the good cloth, which may have explained why it hadn't flown right. She saw, after she got a closer look, that she had forgotten to bend the wood slightly, give it a longer tail and that she had chosen the wrong wood; it was Japanese maple, too brittle to be bend in straining weight.
"Okay, that sketch sucked!" Aki gathered what little she could, and went back to Konoha, realizing that she had spent half of her savings to that wreckage that lay in her arms.
Looks like she was going to have to do a couple of solo ranked missions to up it up again.