u b Of Ninja and Strawberries /u /b
A shrill scream echoed through the small Manhattan apartment.
"NOO! DON'T DIE!" A voice screamed desolately. Feet ran softly across carpet, and the figure kneeled down on the floor, staring with wide eyes at the object that lay partly on the floor and partly on the wall. The figure, a girl, tucked her long hair behind her ears, showing a face drenched in tears.
"You i can't /i die!" she screamed again, rolling forward on her knees and throwing her hands down on either side of the object. Another smaller girl ran into the room, panting.
"Rei, are you. . ." she stopped suddenly, watching her older sister sob. With a disgusted sigh, she walked slowly into the room.
"You're still watching that stupid show, aren't you?" she asked in a strong British accent, glancing carelessly at Rei, who was still bawling, hands on both sides of the television.
"Ha-KUUUU!" she shrieked, staring intently at the TV. She suddenly stopped crying and blinked confusedly. Turning around slowly, Rei rocked backwards, supported by her toes, and used her momentum to stand so she was facing her little sister, who gripped the remote control tightly, her finger hovering over the 'pause' button.
"You just wouldn't understand, Selena," Rei began sternly, her face completely devoid of any hints she'd been crying. She turned toward the television again and pointed at the picture. "They are my inspiration. For life," she added. "And turn that freaking accent off. I know you're only using it to make me feel bad, and it's really annoying. It's not working anyhow." Turning back around, Rei glared at Selena and held her hand out for the remote, the other resting defiantly on her hip. Selena tossed her the object with a snarl.
"You're just jealous that your parents love me more than they love you," she threw out, using her accent to its fullest extent. She continued to stand there, staring at Rei until Rei sighed, turned off the DVD player, walked out of the room, muttering. A gleeful shout was heard as Selena turned on her favorite show and Rei stomped out of the room and into her own, almost broom closet-sized bedroom, closing the door behind her with a bang. She continued to stomp dramatically across the length of her room, a grand ten feet, before coming to a fluffy looking black and pink polka-dotted beanbag chair, where she flopped her body down and sprawled her legs out. Lazily reaching her hand behind and then under the chair, she lifted a bright green book and a blue pen up and placed them both on her lap, opening and flipping through the book. It was, of course, Rei's super secret diary. Rei stopped at the next blank page and uncapped her pen.
i Dear inanimate piece of paper /i , she began.
i Today was relatively okay, like it always is. I did my morning run: two miles in almost twelve minutes, which is really good. Then I went to taijutsu, where they proceeded to work our asses off as they usually do everyday. /i Rei paused to rub her left shoulder. It . . . really hurt.
i The parents are out again. They're probably buying Selena more crap that she'll never need. Ever since they told her she was adopted from, guess where, England, they've been spoiling her rotten, and of course, totally ignoring me. She uses her accent to make them feel bad. It's horrible. On the bright side, I got a new Rurouni Kenshin book yesterday. I love that almost as much as I love Naruto. But not quite as much. Too bad Haku had to die. /i Rei paused again, chewing on the pen cap. In a sudden, unexpected burst of anger, Rei flung the diary across the room where it hit one of the bright pink walls. She stood up, not bothering to pick the book up, and walked to the single window in her room. Leaning her head up against the cool glass, Rei glanced down to see her parents walking to the front door of the apartment with two large shopping bags. Rei rolled her eyes and sighed. Even though they said they didn't play favorites, it was obvious that they were lying. There was no chance in hell that either of the presents was for her. They were horrible actors, Rei had decided before, almost as bad as they were as parents. They had pulled Rei out of her drama/acting class so they could have enough money for Selena to take i tuba /i lessons. Selena had dropped tuba in less than a week.
"Their stupid money problems are their own faults," Rei muttered softly to herself, hearing Selena's almost fake shriek of joy as she opened yet another meaningless package.
"At least they didn't take away taijutsu," she grumbled brokenly, moving away from the window. Almost every part of her body throbbed painfully. With an exasperated sigh, Rei pulled pajamas and clean underwear out of her dresser and exited the room in favor of a hot bath to loosen her tight muscles. She threw her clothes on the toilet seat in a predetermined order; pants, underwear, and then the shirt. Rei walked to the other end of the room and closed and locked the door. She grabbed her two towels, one for her hair and one for her body, and threw them on top of her clothes, the larger towel on top. As the water filled, Rei shuffled through Selena's box of soaps and shampoos. Grinning victoriously, she pulled an almost never used bottle of strawberry scented bubble bath out. She pulled the lid off completely and spilled the entire contents of the bottle into the rising water, and then tossed the empty bottle back into Selena's box, cap-less.
"So there," Rei muttered happily, grinning at the large bubbles forming in the bathtub. She undressed quickly, throwing her dirty clothes in a pile, and slid into the hot water, tensing slightly as it ht her skin. She relaxed as the water washed over her worn out muscles and the bubbles covered her body, except for her head. The smell of strawberries engulfed the room and Rei breathed it in happily. Strawberry was her favorite scent. Stretching luxuriously, she lifted her legs out of the water and examined them. They were covered in bruises, and a few were an ugly yellowish green color. Ah, the price of taijutsu. Rei grimaced at the sight her legs were and let them fall back under the water. She was sure her arms looked almost the same, if not worse, so she didn't bother to look at them. Leaning her head back against the edge of the tub, Rei sighed, ignoring the fact that the water was trying to burn her skin off. For a fourteen-year-old girl living in Manhattan, Rei thought her life was either really boring, or extremely unfair. The same thing happened every single day, with almost no variation. Bubbles assaulted Rei's eyes as she flipped over onto her stomach. The water was getting cold. After wiping the bubbles out of her face, Rei stood up and stepped gingerly out of the tub, pausing to unplug the drain. After wrapping a towel around her body, she walked over to the counter and began to brush the bubbles out of her brown hair and into the sink. There really was nothing special about her, Rei decided as she watched herself in the mirror. Her hair was perfectly straight and brown, and although it was a little longer than most girls had their hair, it wasn't special. Her eyes were big and brown, which, again, weren't anything abnormal. She was an average weight and an average height and had an average face. The only thing over average was her chest size, but that was a topic she didn't like to think about. Her mother had said that her C-cups were hereditary and Rei had actually twitched, and then locked herself into her room for hours.
Exiting the bathroom in pajamas, smelling brilliantly like strawberries, Rei skipped though the hallway feeling refreshed and ready for dinner. The rest of her family was already seated around the dinner table.
"Sit," her mother commanded and pointed at the chair next to Selena, who stuck her tongue out at Rei. Rei sat obediently and waited for her mother to serve dinner.
"Why do you smell . . . like strawberries . . .?" Selena asked slowly, turning to face Rei with a questioning look on her face, her eyes narrowed. Rei blinked innocently and tilted her head to the side.
"Oh, you mean that new shampoo? It was quite brilliant! It was just like bubble bath," Rei lied, a sweet smile on her face. Selena's eyes grew large, and then slowly shrunk back.
"That was my bubble bath, you silly goose," she articulated, emphasizing 'silly goose'. "Not that it matters though. Mom and dad brought me several more bottles," she motioned toward several bottles of scented bubble bath that lay on the counter.
i Un-freaking-believable! /i Rei thought angrily. She continued to hold a sweet mask on her face on the outside.
"Oh. How fortunate," she finally said, fixing her eyes on the plate of soup that was placed in front of her. She saw Selena grin crookedly out of the corner of her eye before shoving a spoonful of soup into her mouth. A frown crossed Rei's face as her mother sat down and her parents shared a look. That was never good. As Rei stared deep into the depths of her soup, wondering vaguely if it as poisoned, she was subconsciously aware of the fact that both her parents were now staring at her.
"Rei, your father and I thought a change might be good for you," her mother began, stirring her spoon around in the soup bowl. Rei's father nodded, watching the spoon turn in circles. Rei looked slowly up at her mother.
"What are you talking about . . . ?" She asked slowly, trying not to let suspicion slip into her voice. All those acting and drama classes had paid off.
"We have decided that you will attend a boarding school in Indiana. You will leave next week."
i What. The. b Hell /i /b .
". . ." Rei stared at her mother, her eyes widening to an almost inhuman size.
"We think you haven't been a very good role model for Selena," her father began, "and it would be best for her too, if you left for awhile." Rei's grip on her spoon tightened.
"You're sending me away because i Selena /i , in her i precious youth /i , will be affected by my . . . badness?!" She spat out. "How am I a bad role model?" As her father opened her mouth, Rei stood up indignantly, not bothering to mask her emotions.
"Selena knew all along she was adopted! You've completely forgotten about me to coax her into loving you when she's known all along! And coaxing her with presents! The last present you gave me was on my tenth birthday," she shouted, backing toward the hallway and running to her room. Nobody made a move to stop her, as they were all staring down into their soup in shocked silence.
Rei flung herself into her room and onto her bed, where she began to beat the living hell out of her pillow, angry tears flowing down her face.
"I b hate /b this!" she screamed, knowing the rest of her so-called family was listening. She slowly sank down onto her bed completely, pressing her face into the pillow to muffle her sobs. Her body was beginning to ache again, and her parent's betrayal was aching though her mind. Flinging herself off the bed, Rei walked toward the window and opened it; leaning out to catch the cold air on her burning face as her fingers had the window sill in a death grip. Closing her eyes as the cool air pelted her face, Rei told herself to calm down.
i Deep breaths. Deep breaths. /i
Rei breathed.
And breathed.
Finally she opened her eyes, now tear-free, and stared at the sky. The stars were pretty tonight. Suddenly, Rei's eyes shot to a moving dot in the sky.
i A shooting star. /i
A feeling of childishness passed through Rei's mind as she closed her eyes to make a wish. She ignored it, feeling almost desperate.
i I wish . . .I wish that something good would happen to me. Something that would change my life. /i Rei opened her eyes and stared at the sky for a few more seconds before closing them again and backing off the window sill. She closed the window behind it and stood with her arms resting at the bottom of the window for quite some time. When she finally moved again, she fell, tired and hungry, into her bed, where she fell asleep surprisingly fast.
Rei woke up the next morning with her face completely in her pillow. She sighed into it, feeling refreshed from her sleep. Rolling over and yawning, Rei opened her eyes and was shocked beyond all belief.
The room she was laying in was hers, except it wasn't. Instead of a pile of manga books on her dresser, there were piles of kunai and shuriken, along with a pouch to hold them in. Rei sat up slowly, her eyes wide.
"Are they trying to make up for last night . . .?" Rei asked out loud as her feet hit the floor. As she shuffled through the pile of weapons, something else caught her eye. An upside down metal plated cloth was next to the weapons. A sudden burst of adrenalin ran unexpectedly though Rei's spine as she picked it up and flipped it over.
It was a small model of a headband, and not just any headband. Rei dropped the said object onto the floor with a shocked gasp. The silver painted plastic shined up at her, the leaf etched in the middle catching the sun in such a way that it reflected all over the walls. As a burst of horror shot through Rei's mind, she took off running out of her room. Running down the hallway to her parents' room, Rei stopped in sudden shock to see the room was almost completely empty, the dresser covered in dust. It looked unlived in. Another strangled gasp shot out of Rei as she ran into the kitchen. The entire room was a mess, Rei's style, but otherwise it looked exactly the same. Searching the wall for the calendar, Rei tried to hold back the feeling of panic welling in her. What in the world was going on? The calendar located, Rei threw her head in close to it. The entire thing was in her handwriting, things like doctor's appointments suddenly gone. That very day was highlighted in green and it read 'Test!'. Rei narrowed her eyes in confusion and then rubbed them. This was some creepy dream . . .
Rei ran back into her room to hopefully unlock the mysteries of what was happening. Pulling up the blinds, Rei gazed out expecting vainly to see Manhattan, in all its glory. What she saw, however, was an exact replica of the village of Konoha, from her favorite manga, Naruto. Rei's arms fell slack at her sides, her mouth open in shock. There was no mistaking it, this was Konoha. A strangled yelp left Rei's lips.
"What does this mean?" she threw out to the empty air. "Test? Does that mean . . . ninja test?! I can't do ninjutsu! How did this happen?!"
i You wont get anywhere by yelling, you know. Get dressed and get to the school. You know the way, /i a voice inside her head told her. Rei instantly calmed down and walked to her dresser to find suitable clothes to . . . take the genin test. The clothes she found were a pair of black capri pants and a black tank top with a bright blue crescent moon embroidered on the back. Rei pulled them on effortlessly, discarding her pajamas on the floor. The clothes fit perfectly, and Rei had never seen them before in her life. Shoving the shuriken and kunai into the pouch, Rei strapped it to her right thigh, as she had seen in the books, and stood up. Now all that was left were those sandals and maybe a ponytail. Rei latched a rubber band onto her wrist incase it was needed later and walked toward the door, where the shoes usually were usually kept back at her real home. Where ever that was now. Her blue sandals were there, and Rei stared at them in a sort of muffled shock.
i So this /i is i real . . . /i
"I've got nothing to lose," Rei suddenly declared cheerfully. "This will be awesome!" After slipping on the shoes, Rei closed and locked the door, and then stepped out into the world of Konoha.
As Rei walked toward the school on autopilot, she sensed more than saw a figure approaching on the left. Impressed and shocked at her quick, inhuman reflexes, she watched as her hand instantly went into her weapon pouch, and she turned, ready to fight. The girl who hovered behind her grinned at her and stopped walking. Rei recognized her instantly.
i Tenten?! /i
The other girl giggled when she saw Rei's hand quickly leaving her weapon pouch.
"Are you ready for the test today? I know you'll do fine. Then you can be the only first year genin that's fourteen!"
i Well at least I know I'm not twelve. /i
"I, uh, am pretty confident," Rei began, choosing her words carefully as Tenten fiddled with her hair, redoing one of the buns.
"You should be," she replied, wincing as she pulled some of her hair when she removed her hair pin. "After all that extra training we did, I'd be surprised if you didn't pass. When I took the test last year, we had to do a really easy genjutsu. I think they change it ever year though," Tenten explained as they began to walk down the pebbled road again.
i It's doppelgangers, /i Rei realized.
"Just remember what I told you about chakra. You're ahead of everyone else anyway, so even if you do bad, you'll still really have done good. Or something like that. You get it." Tenten suddenly stopped walking, and Rei saw that she was in front of the school's doors.
"Good luck," Tenten said, grinning. "I'd meet you for the ceremony, but I have a mission and then I told Neji I'd train with him." Rei waved as her-seemingly- friend walked away. Breathing out a nervous sigh and wringing her hands together, she slowly pushed open the doors to the school and walked down the hallway until she began to hear the noise of people talking. Rei stopped at a closed wooden door where the noise seemed to be coming from, and opened it slowly.
It was indeed the right room, Rei realized as she saw familiar faces. She looked around the room to find an empty seat before hearing her name being shouted. Rei turned to look for the source and saw an unknown girl with black hair and green eyes waving at her. She pasted a smile on and walked over.
"Hey, Rei!" The girl greeted, flipping one of her long double braids behind her back. "I saved you a seat." Rei sat down in the designated seat and tried to pick the girl's name up without looking stupid. "I guess they're calling us in one-by-one," she explained to Rei, "and it's alphabetically. So Kyoko Takishi isn't gonna be anytime soon. They're actually quite close to your name, so I guess we can sit here and talk until they call you, huh?" Rei nodded, relieved that she finally knew the girl's name.
"So, Kyoko," she began, looking at the other girl, "do you know what the test is going to be on?" Kyoko shook her head.
"Ito, Rei."
Rei stood up shakily as she saw Iruka standing in the middle of the room, glancing around for her.
"Good luck Rei," Kyoko said and patted her on the arm.
"Good luck to you too, Kyoko." With that, Rei walked down the isle and over to Iruka.
"Follow me," he instructed. Rei followed him into the hallway and into another room. He sat down at a table with another teacher whose name Rei couldn't remember, and motioned for Rei to go to the middle of the room.
"Now Rei, I'd like you to perform the bushin no jutsu, art of the doppelganger," the other teacher told her and leaned back to watch.
Rei's hands automatically went into the sign for the doppelganger, and she whispered, "Bushin no jutsu!" rather weakly. Closing her eyes and praying for the best, she was surprised to hear a light clap. She opened her eyes and looked sideways to see a perfect copy of herself, staring at the teachers. Rei turned her own eyes to the teachers with a mystified expression.
"I . . . did it?" she whispered, in awe. Iruka held a forehead protector out to her, a real one this time.
"Sure you did, don't you agree, Mizuki-san?" The other teacher nodded as Rei took the headband. "The graduation ceremony is in one hour. You'll get your picture taken, and then you can socialize! By the way, have your parents returned from their mission yet? I know it was supposed to be a particularly hard mission, even for ANBU," Iruka added, looking cautiously around. Rei shook her head and thanked them before walking out of the room, fingering the shining metal.
i So I have parents here too, they're just . . . on an ANBU mission, I guess. /i Rei walked down the hallway and out the door, breathing in the fresh air happily. She reached back and scratched the back of her head, and then swept her hair off her shoulders. Now she had an hour to do whatever she wanted. Walking down the steps and looking around curiously, Rei decided to familiarize herself with Konoha. Taking a few steps away from the building and then looking back at the forest a sudden thought struck Rei's mind.
i Maybe my wish did come true. /i With an excited sigh, Rei turned and began to half walk, half skip into the village.
b To be continued . . . /b