REVERBERATING DOOM

By Hitokiri Midori

Started: August 9, 2004 [6:08PM] (Finished September 3, 2004, 5:57PM)

Author's Notes: I actually wish I didn't stick Orochi in the plot line… now I've got too many conflicting stories. Let's see if I can work this out… Sorry this isn't the greatest chapter. TT" Sorry this took so long… school started and I get about three hours of sleep a night now. Argh! I hate the IB program! (If you all know what it is, it's similar to high school AP) Evil.

PART FOUR

"It's raining." She looked outside, speaking to herself in a muffled awe.

"It is?" She was surprised to hear a response. A taller young man was sitting beside her in the gymnasium. Dressed in all black, his sallow face looked paler than death. Shuddering involuntarily, she responded as civilly as she could, "Yes, it is." She glanced outside. "But it's still sunny."

It was true. Despite the glaring sun, the drops continued to fall. Each one was heavy, like a small bead of glass, shattering as it came in contact with the earth. It shattered as it came in contact with the soiled, desolate world the earth had become to be.

"It's a marvel, isn't it?" Kin didn't like how his voice sounded so twisted. His whole appearance was twisted, and the way he smiled and acted gave off such an aura it almost made her cringe. "Are you here for the homecoming dance preparations?"

"Yes, you could say that…" Kin cast a glance towards Zaku and Dosu, who were setting up their equipment. She couldn't help but notice that people seemed to shy away from the two, as if they were something contagious, like a virus.

"Are those two your companions?" The boy continued to press further, but Kin tried to return with the shortest, sharpest answer possible.

"Yes."

"Are you playing tonight?"

"Maybe."

"Do you have a partner to go to the dance with?" Kin froze at this.

"Who are you?" She cried indignantly. "I'm sorry, but I've never even met you before!"

"You probably have, but don't remember it." The boy continued languidly, as if there was never an interruption. "My name is Orochimaru."

Kin paused, wracking her memory. "Orochimaru… the genius of the twelfth grade? You're the one they say is a once-in-a-decade genius?" She said, raising an eyebrow.

"Why do you look so surprised?" Orochimaru smirked. "After all, I am the greatest. I hate fools who never cease their futile, incessant quest to become stronger. I've had my eye on this certain boy in your grade, but he's always surrounded by a fan club. So, I was wondering if you'd like to escort me, as the dance committee has forbidden me from coming without a date. I guess they think I'll kill someone. Also, your buddies down there owe me money and if you don't give it back I'll break their arms-"

He took a deep breath as a pause. After all, all evil geniuses have to take time to meticulously explain their works. It is in the instinct of all artists and geniuses to explain their works to the foolish mortals who don't 'get it.'

Oh wait, did I say mortals? I'm sorry. No one said anything about Orochimaru inventing a crazy jutsu and becoming immortal. Cough. Cough. Oh dear, does anyone else feel a draft in here?

Changing the subject, Orochimaru looked up, expecting a captivated audience listening to his recital of his plans. He always had some creepy sophomore chasing after him offering their bones in sacrifice for his greatness, or juniors with white hair and round glasses always calling him "Orochimaru-sama," but never has anyone blatantly ignored him.

He looked at the space Kin sat at earlier, which was now vacant. A certain sophomore who called himself Kaguya Kimimaro was snarling at a junior named Mitarashi Anko. While the two were locked in the ultimate fight to the death, Orochimaru was shocked beyond belief. Kin was nowhere to be found, which could only mean…

She was bowing! Smirking to himself, Orochimaru looked down only to find… that crazy group nobody talked to polishing his shoes. They called themselves the Sound Four. It used to be Sound Five, until Kimimaro broke his skeletal system and he couldn't go with them to intimidate freshmen.

"Fools! Get off my shoes!" He commanded, kicking the four away. They scattered to the four corners of the gym, as Orochimaru has a rather mean Flying-Kick-o-Doom™ that could rival Tsunade's Punch-o-Doom™. "Where is that insolent little brat?" He scanned the room to see… the back of Kin's head. She was walking away from him, the Orochimaru! How dare she? How could she-

"Oy, Kin! Help us with the amps, will you?" Zaku called out. "They're really hard to set up!"

"They wouldn't be so hard if Dosu didn't want to tie them on his arm!" Kin spat back before stomping out of the gym, still disgusted that that… that… pale senior tried to ask her to the dance. Apparently, her temper had not improved between the previous night and this afternoon.

"It's a fashion statement!" Dosu defended, not even glancing up. He was too busy strapping the metal amps on his arms.

"You have to admit, they look kind of dumb." Zaku smirked.

"You don't look that great either, with that helmet… thing… of yours!" Dosu protested, still struggling to strap on the strange material around his forearms. His sleeves kept getting in the way, however.

"Dammit… I shouldn't have bought such a huge blazer…" He cursed as the cloth fell over his arm again. As he was about to pull it back, another hand got there first. Zaku held up the sleeves. Dosu looked up, mildly surprised, and Zaku smirked.

"What would you do without me?"

Dosu merely rolled his eyes before strapping his 'accessories' down.

"Tsuchi-chaaaaaan! Who are you going to the dance with?" Sakura screeched, leaping up upon the annoyed girl. Inwardly, Kin twitched. She wished Sakura would respect what people called personal space. With Kin's current mood, her personal space extended to a radius of ten miles around.

"No one, currently." She answered through gritted teeth. Don't forget the award, she reminded herself. Oh yeah. The award. What award?

The one she worked so hard for. It indicated she was the best, and there was no one superior to her. She slaved over her homework, exhausted herself by practicing an hour longer than anyone else in volleyball and lacrosse, and still practiced flute every day… only to find she needed to be popular too. Oh, right. Because students voted, and students were never fair.

"Oh, really? Do you want to come with me to ask Sasuke-kun to go with me?" Sakura continued, as Kin looked around, trying to find an excuse. Sakura leaned close to her, trying to pull the puppy-dog eyes act. Inwardly disgusted at this girl with glossy hair trying to persuade her to do something for her, Kin chastised herself. She loved being self-dependant, and the way this girl and her friends seemed to stick together in a big group and rely on each other disgusted her, frankly.

"Er, no… I have to go do my hair." Kin lied. "Lately, the humidity from the rain has been so bad towards everybody's hair. They aren't glossy at all." She fingered her long locks. She felt as if the grime from crawling in the street still remained. She wanted to shower, suddenly.

"Ahhh! Really? I need to go do my hair too, then!" Sakura exclaimed, running off. Kin exhaled deeply, feeling as if a load had just been lifted off her shoulders. Turning to exit the empty hallway, remnants of a week of school remained. Papers with bad scores written in red littered the hallway. It must've been from the test their class received back today. Broken pencils and chunks of erasers were in corners, collecting dust. After all, it was Friday afternoon, the Homecoming Dance was tonight, and no one except for her was thinking about the semester award ceremony on Saturday.

She had no umbrella and no desire to stay in school any longer. Stepping into the sunny day, she let the rays of sunlight and thin strings of rain fall upon her shoulders.

"Hey. Zaku." Dosu kicked his friend's foot when Zaku didn't notice him.

"What?" He demanded. "I'm busy here!" Zaku was having a valiant fight with the wiring leading from the larger speakers at the sides of the makeshift stage. As no one in the dance committee seemed to want to help them and the only people even in the gym were the creepy outcasts of the social society, he was on his own for this one.

"Does that guy look familiar?" Dosu's gaze drifted to Orochimaru, who was sitting haughtily in the bleachers, as if examining them. "Childhood friend, third cousin twice removed, guy we saw at the ramen stand… anything like that?"

Zaku squinted. "You're right, he does look familiar. But I don't remember from where."

Kin flipped over the lyrics to her song one more time. Her stomach churned. Did she really want to perform in front of the whole school? Everyone knew the bands at homecoming were lame. A couple years ago, apparently a band with someone from their school in it performed and never appeared at their school again.

This time, it was with Zaku and Dosu nonetheless. The two most feared students in their grade. Sliding even lower in her seat, she felt a wave of uncertainty wash over her. The rent for their apartment was due soon, also. She honestly didn't know Zaku managed to procure money for the bills month after month, especially since he liked to spend foolishly on his equipment. If he didn't get better habits, the two of them would eventually have to just move in with Dosu someday.

She opened shelf after shelf, hoping to find some cash stored away somewhere. She glanced at the bill, and flinched. There was no way the money from her second-rate part time job was going to pay for that. Zaku didn't even work.

So why was there a huge wad of money strapped together with a single rubber band lying at the bottom of his drawer? Kin reached for it and counted quickly. There was nearly two-thousand dollars, more than enough for rent and about enough food for more than half a year, if they spent wisely. How on earth did he get this? She needed to ask him. Gently tucking it back into its place as if it were explosive, she quickly shut the drawer and glanced at the clock. It was six, and she needed to get ready.

"Neji! You're prettier than a girl!" Ino laughed as the sullen boy shot death glares at the blond witch.

"It's all Lee's fault." He grumbled something about losing a bet and having to wear a mustard yellow suit to the dance, which he didn't even want to come to in the first place. He blamed Lee and Tenten. Damn them. Daaaaaamn them.

"Come, Neji! We must show off our sensible fashion tastes to everyone!" Lee declared, pulling along his companions. He was dressed in a bright green suit that looked rather rubbery, like spandex. Beside him, Tenten, who was wearing a hot pink dress with lots of ruffles and frills, was thankful that it didn't hug his body as tightly as the training suit she had the misfortune to see him in. The three of them bet on what Gai-sensei would wear to the dance, and Lee won. Who knew that silly old man would come in a green parakeet costume? Who wears a green parakeet costume to a dance? Who even owns one?

As his prize, Lee declared that he would decide their own costumes for the dance. Of course, he chose the neon green suit for himself, and the mustard yellow one for Neji. As for herself… well, Tenten decided she would try out the spiked punch and get intoxicated enough to forget this night ever happened.

"Neji-niisan…" Neji heard a squeak near his shoulder. "That suit brings out the color in your eyes…"

"Come to mock me, have you?" Neji hissed at his cousin. "You know very well I have no colors in my eyes! I see you chose a simple gray dress, Hinata-sama! Always the conservative one, aren't you? Well I tell you, the main branch is all-"

"Hyuuga! Finally, you're wearing something that doesn't make you look like a grumpy snowball!" Kiba came up with Shino, who looked like he wanted to be there about as much as Neji did, and smirked. Always, always with the smirking. It made Neji want to rub that smirk in his face.

When Neji decided the Inuzuka boy wasn't even worth responding to, Kiba took it as an okay to continue his taunts. Frankly, they weren't amusing at all. Hinata gasped in horror as Kiba began to denounce Neji's appearance.

"Oh, my mother has a better haircut than that, although with that do, I guess people do mistake you for a mother a lot, eh? Is that flab I see on your arms, Hyuuga? Not exercising enough, eh? Well, you always were so feminine-"

The last thing Kiba saw before his nose met the ground and everything went dark was Neji's feminine hand meeting his face at rapid speed.

"Kiba-kun! Neji-niisan!" Always the pacifist, Hinata looked back and forth between the two worriedly. She had no fight to prevent, however, as the dark-haired boy had already stomped off, leaving Kiba face-flat on the floor.

Kiba, you've been voted off the island. Along with Hinata and Shino, who would've leapt at the opportunity to flee from this horrible dance if Shino did absurd things like leaping and displaying emotions. They each grabbed one of his shoulders and tried to cart him off, but it didn't really work since Hinata was significantly shorter than Shino and Kiba. In the end, Shino just pulled the unconscious boy out while Hinata held Akamaru. Way to go for critical thinking skills, Shino!

"I didn't know you had flab on your arms, Neji!" Lee conversed with a still fuming Neji. He and Tenten had to practically tie Neji to the wall. Slapping his cheeks with surprised, Lee continued, "Here I was, delusioning myself in thinking your refusal of my arm-wrestling offers was because you were trying to mask your strength! Little did I know, it was only because you weren't as strong as I had always thought- Uwaaaaah!"

Lee's face was the second Neji's fist greeted tonight. If this continued, the hospital ward would reach an all-time high by eight o'clock. That, or a pile of tactless high school boys would begin to amass.

Kin eyed Zaku out of the corner of her eye. He seemed normal, aside from the natural uncertainty of this whole performance. They knew they hadn't gotten enough practice, but they were natural geniuses at music. Aside from martial arts, music was the one common threat that would through the three of them since birth.

Wouldn't Zaku mention something… anything about a huge wad of money just sitting in a drawer? Dosu didn't seem to know anything about it. The thought of all that money, possibly acquired by mysterious means, made Kin anxious, somehow. He wouldn't… steal it, would he? Dosu and Zaku were rather infamous for their bully-like atmosphere, but she didn't have knowledge of them actual engaging in activities like that.

Dismissing these thoughts as she focused on her agenda for tonight, she sighed. Being a fund-less teenager living with another equally money-less teenager was such a hassle. Poking her head out from behind the makeshift curtains that had been set up in the gym, she surveyed the crowd. Most of them had begun to arrive, but the crowd was never a particularly large one for the homecoming dance. Alas, Sakura and her posse had arrived, along with Sasuke and Naruto, who were both looking rather grumpy. Sasuke seemed to be trying to avoid eye contact with any of the female species, while Naruto kept rubbing his stomach and complaining inaudibly, at least to her ears. Kin felt she was glad for this.

"Kin?" Dosu's voice spoke suddenly, breaking her concentration like shattering glass. Shaking her head in an attempt to bring herself back into her residing dimension, she nodded. "Yes?"

"We're going to start soon. We won't need you 'till about halfway through. You can go if you want…" He offered, waving a hand with an amplifier attached to it.

Tearing her stare away from the strange accessory, Kin nodded. "Er, whatever you say, Dosu. Are you sure you can play properly with those amps on your arm?"

"They help tremendously." Dosu assured her.

"Alright. Break a leg." Kin muttered, slipping out from behind the curtains and into the crowd lithely.

"Well, that was quick. You really think she still likes us?" Zaku grumbled, signaling to a member of the tech crew to draw the curtains. As they did so, a few members of the audience gasped. They knew the band playing at homecoming was less than reputable, but no one expected the two known as the most terrifying bullying duo to start playing. It wasn't a shock when Zaku began strumming screechy chords, so warped they seemed out of tune. Yet, they had an entrancing sort of melody to them. Dosu started belting the lyrics to their song, as if trying to fill in the settled silence with an insane racket. It was impossible to dance to, but by the end of the first song, a few courageous ones had managed to make a beat out of their unique style of music.

"What kind of music is this?" Sakura muttered, expecting at least a trendy pop band. "Oh! Tsuchi-chan!"

Kin, who had been furrowing her brow, immediately attempted to relax and slapped on a fake smile. "Oh, I'm just socializing." She said automatically, before slapping herself at the awkwardness of that statement.

"Er… okay." Sakura latched arms with Kin and pulled her off. "Let's find Sasuke-kun before Ino!" She declared.

"Let's not." Kin mumbled, but allowed herself to be dragged by the cotton-candy haired girl, who had all but pulled out a mighty bullhorn and begun shouting the name of the object of her affections.

"SASUKE!"

And… out came the bullhorn.

END NOTES:

1) Again, my apologies for producing chapters with the speed of a sea slug.

2) As much as I hate this, I feel like this is turning into one of those annoying "AU!High school Naruto" fics. goes to bang head on wall

3) This chapter doesn't end in quite a cliffhanger. I'll eventually put the next one out… in winter break or something. Doesn't look like I'll be having too much free time. OO

4) Ignore most of the little plot devices. They don't quite work.

5) Thanks for reading, once again. Your support is really helpful! Please review if you can spare the time, and also, please, no flames. (I am emotionally unstable enough as it is right now without a flame to completely plunge myself into denial. "I am cool. I am amazing. I am loved. I am egotistic…")