A/N: Wow. I mean it. I never knew people would like "The Day I Became Stranded" this much. o.o Seriously. Thank you so much for those who reviewed and read this story! And now, onwards!
Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue. Okay?
I woke up when I felt something below me, tapping me up. Where was- Oh yeah, in Kakashi's pocket. I groggily get up and fix the position of my glasses. I poke my hands and head out of his pocket.
"Whaat?" Guess who I saw? Hm? Hm? Hm? Three pairs of eyes, on set was blue, one was green and the last set was black. Then I began seeing better. The one with green eyes had pink hair. The one with blue eyes had blonde hair. And the last one had black hair. Oh. These aren't who I think they are, are they?
"Kakashi-sensei! She's so cute!" The girl shouted and acted all girly on me. Scary.
"She's… She's… She's… She's so small!" The blonde shouted, pointing at me, after which I heard a rather painful sound of fist colliding with one's head. The blonde was rubbing his now-very-sore-head.
"Don't insult her!" The black-haired guy just stared at me. Then, out of no-where, his eyes turned red. That's just freaky, dude! Remember, reflexes are always good. And mine was to slip into the pocket again.
"Wagh!" I slid inside the pocket. Pocket is good, pocket protects… No, wait, wasn't that the Sharingan? Cool.
"It's not genjutsu or ninjutsu. What is it?" The guy asked. 'It'? 'IT'?
"Hey! Teenangst! I'm a she! A girl! No, scratch that, a woman! I'm 22, for God's sake!" I rage and point him from my safe-haven, the pocket. I am met with silence and un-believing eyes. Kakashi is first to break the silence.
"Twenty-two?" I can hear the laughter in his voice.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, nothing…" Came the answer.
"I swear, if I wasn't six inches tall right now, you'd be in a world of hurt..." I mumble and pout.
"Can I hold her?" Sakura asked and made a freaky pose. She joined her hands together and stared at me funnily.
"Sure." Kakashi took me out gently ("Yipes! I break easily!") and placed me on Sakura's open palms.
"Ping, this is my team. The girl is Sakura, the blonde is Naruto and the dark one is Sasuke." Well, I already knew that, but I really couldn't tell them that, could I? I'll just play along for now...
"Hiya! Nice to meet you!" I waved my tiny hand at them as Naruto came really close.
"Hey, you're hot! Too bad you're that small!" After my initial blushing reaction, I kicked his nose. He rubbed it slightly.
"Owch!"
"I'm sorry, but you're not really helping here!" I said and put my hands on my hips. Sakura moved her hands and I fell down. Hey, it's really, really hard to stay up in that kind of platform. I came face to face with the pink-haired girl.
"Oh! I could make you so many clothes!" She gushed. Oh, so I've been reduced into a bloody doll. Nice. No offence to Sakura, but... Yeah.
"That's great Sakura-chan! You can help me then!" Kakashi seemed to smile.
"Oi! No shoving your responsibility to her!" I faced him and pointed at him. He pulled a would-be innocent face.
"Me?"
"Yeah, or I swear I'll tell Tsunade not to talk to J... That Jiraya-guy, whoever he is." I knew exactly who he was. Indeed, I did... Kakashi seemed to take on panicky expression.
"You... You wouldn't."
"Are you sure you want to wait and see?" I asked and defiantly sat on Sakura's palm. Man I am goood. Kakashi sighes in a defeated way and nods.
"… Fine. I wont shove the responsibility on her. Happy?"
"Yup!"
"Okay, then. Let's go." He says and motions everyone after him.
"No! Wait, where are we g-WHOAH!" Holy crap these winds are strong! So I just decided to sit down on Sakura's hands. She's treating me like a doll, really! She keeps babbling something about clothes and sewing and… Well.
"Sasuke-kuuuuun!" Nyargh! Not them! Sakura turns around, only to see Yamanaka Ino almost on Sasuke like a… Like a… D'ya know those small dogs inside some old royalties' sleeves? Yah, just like that. Just... Clingin' on for her dear life.
"Why, Ino-san, how nice to see you." Sakura hissed and closed the distance between her and the blue-eyed blonde.
"Why, Sakura-san, it is indeed." Ino hissed back and they begun their stare-down. Sakura's hand, specifically the one I'm in, is twitching like she wants to close it into a fist.
"Errm… Sakura?" She doesn't hear me. The hand is closing…
"Sakura?" Still closing… Garg, a full fist!
"OWOWOWOWOWOW!" I shout out and trash wildly. That seems to snap Sakura out of her trance and she unclenches her fist, eyeing me worriedly. Jesus, mother Mary and Joseph she has a strong grip. Wow, neat colors in front of my eyes…. Whee...
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Ping-chan! Are you okay?" Am I okay? Am I okay!
"Look at the pretty colors... I mean, I'm fine." I twitch again, and open my eyes, only to encounter a pair of blue eyes.
"NYAARGH!" I jump backwards as an instinct. Bad call.
"AIEEE! Ungh!" I hit something soft. Ground's not soft, right? I look up and I see the laziest shinobi around. Yeah, Nara Shikamaru.
"Sheesh, does it do anything but scream?" He scratches the back of his head. 'It'? 'IT'?
"Dude, don't call her it. She'll throw a fit." Naruto said and walked next to Shikamaru.
"'IT'! WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN 'IT' YA LITTLE-HMPH!" Someone lifts me up and successfully blocks my mouth in the process.
"Now, Ping-chan, please calm down…" Kakashi chuckled and emphasised the suffix 'chan'.
…
He blocked me on purpose, didn't he?
"Kakashi!" I shout and pinch his finger. Like that would do any good. But hey, stress-relief. His finger twitched when I pinched it, though, so there's at least some effect, right? Oww, my tummy…
"I'm hungry…" I whined and rubbed my stomach. I heard something in the background.
"Ino, what are you-HEY!"
"Shut up, Choji!" And after that, I saw the salvaging piece of food. It was the biggest potato chip I have ever seen in my life! I looked up and saw Ino holding it to me and smiling.
"For me?" I pointed at myself and looked at her.
"Sure!"
"Yaay!" I shouted and grabbed the big slice o' dried potato and began munching on it. Sakura and Ino made an "aww!" chorus at the background and the guys stared at them strangely, though Choji seemed to be mourning the loss of a potato chip. Mmm, sour cream and onion… I finished it in no time flat and sighed. My stomach gurgled.
"Heh, I'm still hungry." I smiled and scratched the back of my neck. The girls made another "aww!" and begun to fuss about.
"Ma, I guess we could go to eat…" Kakashi mused and looked towards the town. At least I think he was staring at Konohagakure…
"YAAY! RAMEN!" I jumped up and stuck my hands up in the air, the same time Naruto did the same exact thing. Woo, scary, dude. Scaary…
"Two beef-ramen, one duck-ramen and one vegetable ramen, please." Kakashi ordered and set me down on the counter. Naruto was whining why the ramen couldn't come faster, Sakura was torn if she should flirt with Sasuke or hit Naruto and Sasuke was... Sasuke. Can't really describe him, can I? All he does is brood. And mope. And angst. So yeah... Ino's team went somewhere else to eat (Chouji suggested another restaurant), but not before Ino swore she'd make me better clothes than Sakura. Hoo boy. Not that I'm complaining, but again, they're treating me like a doll! A DOLL! AAGH!
"Kakashi-sensei? How is Ping-chan going to eat?" Sakura piped up as I struggled to pull a pair of chopsticks out of a tall container. I wrapped my arms around it, slid it out, millimetre by millimetre, and then allowed it to fall down. Man, this is hard work! That thing is about as tall as I am! Wait, it's taller.
Aww, crud.
I began to slide them out of their paper-y cover when they were pulled away from me, making me fall down. Rather painfully. Owwie...
"Owch." I look up and I see Kakashi taking them out, splitting them and giving them back to me. I take them after standing up.
"You could've warned me, you know." I glower at him and balance the sticks. They're really not that heavy, but, uh... Yeah. They're hard to manipulate. Yeah, that's it.
"Soo... How am I to eat with these things?" I asked and wiggled the big splinters of wood, then looked up at the bigger humans. Kakashi seemed strangely amused and Sakura was gushing over my "cuteness" as she puts it. Naruto took the chopsticks from me, for everyone's surprise, and neatly broke them so that he split one chopstick in half, broke the thinnest pieces into smaller versions of chopsticks, and then gave them to me. Everyone went silent for a while, then...
"Thanks, Naruto!" I said and smiled, into which he replied with a grin. Everyone seemed to be dumbstruck that Naruto actually had an idea, and remained silent.
"Naruto, I think they had a heart-attack because you actually had an idea." I remarked, which I shouldn't have done.
"What do you mean 'I actually had an idea', huh? I get a lot of ideas!" He defended himself, gently whacking me over the head with the remaining chopstick.
"Ite, ite, ite! Sakura-chaaaaan! Naruto is teasing meeee!" I whined and clomped onto Sakura's hand. She looked at me and then glared at Naruto.
"But, but... Sakura-chan..."
"BAKA!" POW!
"Itai..." Naruto whined and rubbed his sore head while I looked at him apologetically. It's not like I want him to suffer, but hey, which one of us is in a harder jam here?
Wait, we're kinda even, he having that Kiyuubi inside of him and all...
"Here you go!" The ramen-man put four bowls in front of us and making a miracle recovery, Naruto cheered and grabbed his.
"Itadakimasu!" He said and split his own chopsticks. Sasuke muttered something that sounded like "idiot", but Naruto didn't hear it. Sakura sighed and took her own bowl of vegetable ramen, and begun to eat. Kakashi tapped my head.
"Oi, Ping-chan." He gestured towards his bowl of duck-ramen. I walked up to it and kneeled next to it.
"Oh my lord, I'm in heaven." I muttered. That bowl was about my height in diameter, half my height in, well, height and filled with the most delicious-looking ramen I have ever seen.
"Itadakimasu!" I said and took my small (yet still, a bit too big) pair of chopsticks and begun to haul some noodles my way. I managed to do so, and I left them to the edge to cool off a bit. I noticed a small piece of carrot nearby, so I picked it up and popped it into my mouth. Oh my gawd! This tastes so good!
"Waa, so good!" I said and manoeuvred the cooled noodles into my mouth, slurping all the way. By this time, I had attracted a small crowd of women and men. They were all looking at me eating ramen, the women gushing at my cuteness and the men wondering what the heck I was.
"Ping-chan! Would you like some bread?" Sakura asked and offered me a small rip of her bread, which, by the way, filled my arms quite nicely.
"Yes please!" I chirped happily and took a bite out of it.
"AWW!"
"That's so cute!"
"That's beyond just cute!"
"I wonder if you can find people like her from somewhere..."
"Who's taking care of her?" A woman asked and looked at the team 7.
"Ma... I am." Kakashi lifted his hand up. The women practically jumped on him.
"Aww, that's so sweet of you!"
"I can take care of her if you're busy sometime!"
"Yeah, me too! Here's my number, call me any time!" The women began to give their names, addresses and numbers to Kakashi, who seemed as stumped as anyone else did. I looked at the women who all turned at me. I stood up and bowed at them.
"Awww!" Another gush, and they began to leave, or stayed and ordered something. Kakashi looked down at the cluster of small notes in his hands and then at me.
"Hey man, can I borrow her sometime?" A man asked. He was wearing a hitai-ate, so I guess he's a ninja.
"Yeah, I wanna ask the same thing!" Another piped up. Holy mackerel! I'm pop-ularrrrr!
Okay, forget I said anything.
After talking a while, the men left. I have no idea what they talked about, I was eating, okay?
"When it comes to grabbing attention, I guess I'm better than a puppy, huh?" I asked as the whole damn team was staring at me. They slowly nodded, still a bit dazed from the sudden swamping of people.
"Gochisosama!" I said and sat down, my stomach full of food. Mmm, food...
"You're done?" Kakashi asked, taking pair of chopsticks out.
"Yup." I confirmed and fetched a napkin (which was like a freaking tent!) and wiped my mouth and hands on it. When I glanced back at Kakashi, he placed his chopsticks on the bowl and bowed his head.
"Gochisosama." He echoed. Waaait, I just turned for a sec and...
"Errmmm..." I begun, but Sakura intervened.
"He eats fast, we're trying to figure out what his face looks like but something comes up everytime we try." I nod numbly. Oh yeah, now I remember! Hee hee... Maybe I can see his face, I mean, I am living with him... Right? Hee hee... Kakashi reached to his pocket and put some money on the table.
"Well, I gotta go. I still gotta get some clothes for Ping-chan." He stood up and took me into his hands, putting me back to his pocket.
"Easy there, I just ate!" I reminded him as I settled inside the pocket.
"Matane!" Kakashi said and I peeked from under the flap.
"Ja ne!" I said and waved. Sakura waved back and so did Naruto, saying see-you. Sasuke, to my surprise, offered me a small nod of his head and a small hint of a smile. I nodded back and vanished inside the pocket once again. I felt Kakashi walking. I also heard him reading that book of his. Aww man, I wanna know what's written in Icha-Icha Paradise!
Wait, we're going shopping?
Uh-oh. I hate shopping.
Well, there you have it! Thanks to all my loyal readers! 'Till next time!
In the third chapter we go... Shopping. o.o Neat, huh?