DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, any characters affiliated, a pallet, any shuriken, a red tank top...(shocked gasp) or any packages of Mr. Noodles! I need to go to the store! I need Mr. Noodles! AGH!
Michiko opened her eyes. She was lying down on her mat, and again, it was not quite sunrise.
Only in this world would I like to wake up, she thought wryly to herself.
She pulled herself up, fixed her sheets, and then fed the puppies before getting ready for school.
Deniizu woke up, but didn't open her eyes at first. Instead, she rolled over so that her face felt the cold, hard floor. That provided enough shock to get her up and out of bed. Looking over at Michiko's pallet, she saw that it was empty, and looking through the window, she saw that the sun had just risen. Hearing movement to the other side, Deniizu turned and saw the four puppies huddled around a plate that Michiko had set out for them.
That's cute, Deniizu thought, then gasped when something was dropped onto her face.
"Could you hurry up?" Michiko asked, mock exasperatedly, "We need to find out if there's school today, or if it's still cancelled because of yesterday.
The older girl was standing over her friend, after dropping a change of clothes onto her. Deniizu rolled her eyes but got up and dressed. Fastening on her necklace and bracelet from Kiba, Deniizu grabbed a box of chocolate Pocky, and they were on their way out the door.
"Ohayo, Deniizu! Michiko!"
The girls turned and saw Naruto leaving his apartment. Michiko smiled and waved, and Deniizu nodded before biting another stick of Pocky. The boy in orange grinned as he hurried to catch up to his friends.
"Ne, do you think there's school today?" Naruto asked, falling into step beside them.
"Maybe," Michiko shrugged, "If that dangerous missing-nin is still around, they might cancel it again."
Oh my gosh, I missed you, Naruto, Michiko thought.
"I actually hope there's school," Deniizu said, thinking, He's about as annoying as I remember.
Michiko and Naruto stared at her, surprised. Deniizu merely glanced at them, then continued with what she was saying.
"Michiko and I are really behind. If there isn't any school, how can we catch up?" she explained.
"Right," Michiko said sacastically, snatching two sticks of Pocky from Deniizu's box.
"Of course that's what you meant," Naruto nodded, rolling his eyes as he took the stick that Michiko offered him.
Naruto squinted his eyes, looking down the street, and made out four shapes on the road.
"Hey, it's Hinata," Naruto exclaimed, running ahead, "And Shino, Kiba and Akamaru!"
"Hey! Over here!" Michiko called, waving one arm and using the other to grab a handful of Pocky.
Avoid a punch from Deniizu for continually stealing her Pocky, she ran to catch up to the other small group, and Deniizu had nothing left to do but follow.
"Ohayo," Shino said as the three students caught up.
The greeting was meant for all of them, but he was looking at Michiko.
"Hi," Michiko smiled, relieved that Shino was still talking to her.
Shino...dear Shino...And Hinata-chan! And Kiba and Akamaru! Michiko laughed on the inside.
Hinata saw Naruto andended up looking down and playing with her fingers, mumbling a 'Good morning', and Kiba waved as Akamaru yipped his hello.
"There's school today," Kiba said, adjusting his hood, "Akamaru and I checked earlier today when we were on our morning walk. We saw Iruka-sensei in the academy getting the class ready. It looks like we're going to have a pop quiz."
"Oh no, are you serious?" Michiko groaned.
"Don't panic," Naruto advised, "Quizzes can smell fear. Enter the room calmly, and you might be able to fool it."
"Fool what? The paper?" Deniizu asked cynically, "I just hope Sakura and Ino taught us enough."
"Maybe it is an oral test?" Hinata asked softly.
"No, Iruka-sensei was checking over a large sheaf of papers," Kiba said, "It's definitely a written test."
Akamaru was walking between Kiba and Michiko; he sniffed Michiko's sandal and let out a yip.
"What did he say?" Michiko asked Kiba.
"...He's wondering who the new puppies at your house are," Kiba answered.
"When did you get puppies?" Naruto asked.
"They live right by you and you didn't notice?" Kiba asked incredulously.
"Michiko and I only found the dogs yesterday," Shino spoke up.
"How many?" Kiba asked, "And what breed?"
"I don't know," Michiko shrugged, "I found them in an alleyway."
"I'll ask my sister Hana to check on them, if you'd like," Kiba offered, "She's a vet."
"That'd be great," Michiko grinned.
"Yeah, those little puppies must be real dangerous," Naruto grumbled, "What's the big deal?"
"The dogs might be sick, which may be why there was no mother nearby," Deniizu answered, "And we should try to figure out what breed they are; they may be small now, but they may grow to be big and...well, yeah. Dangerous."
"Ano...what do you think the test is on?" Hinata asked worriedly.
"It's a pop quiz; you're not supposed to know what it's on," Deniizu said sarcastically.
Hinata looked down, embarrassed, and Deniizu regretted her words.
"Um, maybe it's about the history of Konoha," Deniizu said quickly, "We haven't discussed it in class for a while."
"M-maybe," Hinata nodded.
Michiko couldn't help but smile to herself; her friend wasn't all that bad, no matter what she said. Sighing softly, she felt like she was home. Shino saw her sigh, and raised an eyebrow at her, but Michiko waved it off; she was just glad to be back in Konoha.
"Good morning, class," Iruka said, standing at the front of the room.
"Ohayo, sensei," the class said together.
"Today we will," Iruka began, but the entrance of two late students stopped him, "Oh, good morning, Shikamaru, Chouji. How nice of you two to join us. If you would take your seats, I'd like to begin our day with a pop quiz."
The whole class groaned out loud, minus Sasuke, who was too cool and angsty to complain about mere schoolwork, and Shino, who silently groaned on the inside. Shikamaru's "How troublesome," was audible above the other student's noise, and Naruto could be heard, already figeting in his seat.
"We will be doing a quiz review in calculating the trajectories of moving objects using basic Pythagorean Theorem, trigonometry, and characteristics of triangles and parallel lines," Iruka continued, "Um...before we begin, as everyone gets out a pencil and all necessary items for the quiz, I'd like Michiko and Deniizu to come to the front of the class."
The two named girls shared a glance, then rose and obediently walked to Iruka's desk.
"What is it, sensei?" Michiko asked, and Deniizu nodded from behind her.
"I know that you two are new," their teacher explained, "So I'll understand if you choose to not do the quiz today. You can make up for it later by writing it in a few days, once Ino and Sakura give you proper lessons and some practice."
"That's ok, sensei," Deniizu said, "Our instructor in the Tea Village taught us a lot of academics. We'll be fine."
"We'll write the quiz today," Michiko agreed.
"If you're sure," Iruka nodded slowly, "...Are you all right, Deniizu? Is there anything about the missing-nin incident yesterday that you wanted to talk about? I see he hasn't harmed you-"
"He said you could trust him 'in that respect'," Deniizu reminded, "Don't worry; I'm fine."
Iruka hesitated, still looking concerned for his newest students, then nodded and waved them back to their seats.
I understand how I know all this stuff, Michiko thought, as they walked back to their seats, I learned all of this last year. But you can't have learned the math yet; you're two years younger than me.
Not in this world, I'm not, Deniizu thought back, In this world, I'm older than you by months. Don't worry; my dad's a high school math teacher. He taught me this stuff already.
Ok, then. No cheating with your telepathy.
Duh. Of course I won't.
The two girls sat down, and in a moment, Iruka handed out the quiz.
"That was horrible!" Naruto exclaimed, "I didn't know how to do any of the problems!"
"This is where studying comes in, baka," Deniizu scolded.
"Naruto doesn't know the meaning of the word," Kiba said, shaking his head.
"Oh yeah," said Deniizu.
"Hey..." Naruto protested, narrowing his eyes.
Deniizu, Michiko, Kiba, Akamaru and Naruto were in the Ichiraku Ramen stall, eating their lunch. Michiko and Kiba were slipping bits of noodle to Akamaru, who sat between their stools. Naruto elbowed Deniizu, who sat to his right, and glared at Kiba, who sat between Deniizu and Michiko.
"This math stuff just doesn't stick with me," Naruto said, "And Michiko, you handed in your paper first. And it was complete!"
"Yeah, how did you do that?" Kiba asked, slyly dropping a noodle for Akamaru.
"Takona was a good teacher to Deniizu and me," Michiko shrugged.
"So how come Deniizu was one of the last to hand in?" Naruto pointed out, earning a punch from Deniizu, "What? What!"
Michiko decided to not answer, and quickly ate her ramen.
"Hey, not so fast; you'll get sick," Kiba said, poking Michiko's arm.
"I don't want to be late for training," she explained, slowing down her noodle intake just a tad.
Deniizu rolled her eyes, "It's not like it's a date."
"Why would it be?" Naruto asked, confused, but Kiba took only a moment to understand.
"...Oh!" Kiba looked from Deniizu to Michiko, "Really? Do you?"
"Denii-chan..." Michiko glared at her friend.
"You do!" Kiba exclaimed, pointing at the girl, "...What's wrong with you? Ow!"
Michiko had hit him hard on the head with her chopsticks, and now she put her payment for her bowl on the table and slid out of her seat.
"What? What's going on?" Naruto asked, still confused.
"Hey, I was kidding," Kiba said placatingly, "Well...ok, not entirely. But- OW!"
This time Michiko threw her chopsticks at his forehead, and she stomped off.
"Good job, teme," Deniizu growled, hitting Kiba and Naruto on the backs of their heads before following her friend.
"Ow, what was that for?" Naruto exclamed, rubbing his head.
"You're so stupid," Deniizu called over her shoulder, and then she was gone.
Kiba looked at Akamaru, who was chewing on a doggy treat that Michiko had slipped to him.
"Why didn't you do anything?" Kiba asked, but his companion only smiled at him.
"What is going on?" Naruto asked again, earning a kick from Kiba.
"You're not holding it right," Shino critisized, "Hold it like this," he said, demonstrating.
That day, they were training their ranged attacks, and again, Michiko was doing poorly. The dark-skinned girl seemed to have forgotten everything that Shino had taught her, so now he had to go evil on her. Michiko adjusted her grip then let the shuriken fly again.
"Remember to follow through," Shino said, annoyed, "You didn't that time."
"Your grip is wrong again. Fix it."
"Are you even looking at the target? It's right there!"
"Don't hold it that way. You'll cut...there you go."
This guy...Michiko thought, cradling her cut palm, I can't believe this guy...
Michiko decided not to waste chakra just then. She calmly reached into the pouch on the back of her belt and pulled out a small bottle of antiseptic. Removing the cap with her teeth, she put a little on the cut, then recapped it and exchanged it for a small roll of bandages. Biting her lip against stinging pain coming from the cut, she carefully wrapped it, tied it off with her teeth, and replaced the roll. Shino stood there, not moving.
"You're a jerk, you know that?" Michiko said, still calm, to Shino.
"You're a poor aim, you know that?" Shino retorted, also calm.
Michiko seethed on the inside, but serenely took out another shuriken, this time with her left hand. Deniizu and Sasuke watched her and Shino from their side of the field.
"That may improve your aim," Shino taunted, "Throw with your wrong hand."
"Ok," Michiko said, oh, so calmly.
She's going to snap soon, Deniizu thought worriedly.
Michiko threw the shuriken gracefullly, almost carelessly, and it hit the target dead centre. She raised an eyebrow at Shino.
"A fluke," he said, then bit his tongue.
A second, third, fourth...a tenth shuriken hit the targets all around the field dead centre. Michiko barely turned for the one behind her. She then calmly retrieved her shuriken. Standing in the same spot as before, still facing Shino, she threw the stars with her right hand now, and still hit all ten of the targets in dead centre.
"I think that's called skill," Michiko said quietly. Too quietly.
Shino had better not touch a nerve now, or he's dead, Deniizu thought.
"Try kunai," Shino said, still calmly.
"Ok," Michiko said gently, almost cooed, then reached into the pouch on her leg.
The kunai felt good in her hand; like it was meant to be there. Holding it was instinct to Michiko, and she repeated her feat with both hands.
"Is that how you do it, Shino-sensei?" Michiko asked sweetly.
We're at the brink of disaster here...Deniizu thought, then turned away.
"C'mon Sasuke, let's keep training. If there's any killing, I don't want to have to stand witness."
"..." Shino said nothing, he merely pulled out two shuriken.
"Now comes blocking," he said, and waited for Michiko to get ready.
The girl, now completely livid inside, took one kunai in each hand. Her right hand twinged, complaining, but she ignored the pain.
Just a little longer, she thought, Ugh, he treats me like I'm completely useless.
"I'm ready," she called to the boy in front of her.
At first Shino threw the shuriken slowly, letting Michiko get the feel of deflecting the stars, but that didn't take long. He then started whipping the stars as fast as he could, trying to find an opening. She didn't let him have one; she kept blocking, even sending a few back to him. At first he dodged them, then he caught them deftly and threw them back to her. Michiko saw, and she watched how he caught them, examining how he held them before adjusting his grip and returning them. Then she dropped her kunai and caught a shuriken in each hand, throwing them back to him. Shino was surprised; she caught on quick. They went on like this for a bit, then Shino decided to step things up a little, literally. He took a step forward, making the space between them closer. After a moment, adjusting to the timing difference, Michiko stepped forward. Another moment to adjust, and Shino took a step forward. A shorter pause, then Michiko got closer. Then Shino. Then Michiko. Soon they were just a couple paces away from each other, shuriken flying almost too quickly for them to catch and return. Deniizu and Sasuke stopped training and stared; between the two students was a grey blur; neither could see the shuriken. Both Michiko and Shino refused to back down; Michiko wanted to get back at Shino for taunting her, Shino wanted to make sure she would remember what she was doing when there was a real fight. Minutes ticked by; both were beginning to feel burning sensations in their arms from throwing so hard. Finally, both used the Art of Substitution at the same time to step out of the fight. The future ninjas ended up beside each other near the woods, and the stray shuriken flew in wild directions, eventually landing on the ground or in their wooden substitutes. Michiko and Shino were both out of breath, but the girl managed to crack a crooked smile and give him a 'peace' sign with two fingers.
"...Training's over," Shino panted, "Great job."
Michiko nodded, then collapsed in a heap, followed closely by Shino, who fell beside her. Sasuke decided he might as well dismiss his own student, and as he left the clearing, Deniizu walked over to her roomate and nudged her with her toe.
"Ok, get up," Deniizu said, "There's no way I'm carrying you home."
Shino wasn't too exhausted to grab Deniizu's ankle and trip her so that she was on the ground too.
"Ugh, I thought Sakura and Ino would never let us go," Michiko sighed, rubbing her temples, "My brain is full."
"That was only the first 50 ninja sayings," Deniizu said, "I think there are over 200 of them."
"Great," Michiko grumbled, "Well, I've got to feed the puppies and go help out at the manga store now. What're you doing?"
"I think I'll go job hunting again," Deniizu answered after a moment, "When do you get off work?"
"In about three hours," Michiko said, "Think you can meet me in front of the Hokage's building by then? I'm really worried about Pauline."
"Ok. I'll see you in three hours," Deniizu nodded, and the girls went their opposite ways.
Kiba and Akamaru were on their afternoon stroll with Shino. Walking through Konoha's dusty streets, all three were completely bored.
"The same old sights, same old people," Kiba muttered, "Nothing changes here, does it?"
Akamaru growled his agreement, walking between the two boys, but Shino wasn't so sure.
"Perhaps constance is a good thing," Shino suggested, "Would you prefer chaos?"
"I never said that," Kiba defended, "It's just that there should be some change."
Akamaru barked a vehement, "I hate it when it's boring like this!", and Shino got the basic idea of what the dog said, after seeing it attack a defenceless weed on someone's lawn.
I know what you mean, Akamaru, Shino thought.
The boys walked in silence for a moment, then Kiba spoke up.
"Ne, Shino...I know that you planned to come forward with Michiko yesterday, so...how did it go?"
Shino thought for a moment before answering.
"I...it didn't work out," Shino admitted, remembering the almost-kiss.
"Told you," Kiba smirked, and felt Shino's glare, "Hey, don't say I didn't warn you."
Shino nodded, "You get along well with her."
"I know; I like her," Kiba shrugged, "If I didn't know better, I'd say she was part of my clan."
Will she one day become part of it? Does she interest you? Shino thought, but stayed silent.
Kiba had known Shino for a long time; he knew an inkling of what Shino was thinking.
"...Clan's shouldn't intermarry," Kiba said dryly, and Akamaru made a disgusted face.
"They shouldn't," Shino agreed, inwardly relieved.
I still have a chance...It's a good thing Kiba isn't interested; he's more outgoing than me. ...I feel so stupid about last night...
Thinking this led Shino to remember something else.
"Kiba...how are you doing?"
The Inuzuka knew Shino meant Deniizu, and he shrugged, a little sadly. The bug-user had already told him about Itachi.
"Somehow I knew it wouldn't last," Kiba said, as they entered the marketplace, "It was foolish to rush into giving her that jewelry. It wouldn't have worked out anyway; Deniizu and I have only ninja school and Michiko in common. And she doesn't need a boyfriend...I want someone to protect, you know?"
Akamaru barked, and at first Shino thought it was for Kiba's encouragement. Then he saw that the dog was trying to show his companion something.
"What's he saying?" Shino asked.
"There's someone who needs help inside one of the shops," Kiba explained, already on his way to see what he could do.
Shino followed Kiba and Akamaru into a run-down general store. In Konoha, there were actually five general stores; one in each quadrant of town (north, south, east, west), and the fifth was very foolishly placed. Since the market had a very wide variety of stalls, this general store was rarely ever used, so the shop was close to bankrupt. Everyone expected it to close down any day, so the boys were surprised to find anyone other than the cantakerous old shopkeeper in it. Today, however, there were four customers, and the shopkeeper was nowhere to be seen. One was a stocky boy of about 15 years, with short, dark hair, wearing a black sweater and acid-washed blue jeans. There was a tall, teen boy wearing loose, grey pants and a loose dark blue t-shirt of about the same age, who seemed to be related to the first boy. A dirty-blonde, long-haired girl in a red tank-top and a short black skirt stood by the skinnier boy, hanging off of his arm, so she was probably his girlfriend. The couple was laughing, because Black Sweater had pushed a shorter-than-average brown girl in pink against a display rack for magasines. The girl looked like she was Kiba and Shino's age; she was crying silently as the boy kept shoving her backwards, roughly.
"Stupid girl," Red Tank-top laughed.
"Yeah, I can't believe she stopped here for directions," T-shirt laughed, "Anyone with half a brain would go somewhere else."
"What, aren't you going to ask me again?" Sweater was taunting, pushing the girl after each question, "Don't you want to go home? Huh? What's wrong with you? Can't you say something, bitch?"
"Please, just let me go," the girl whispered, tears still flowing down her face, "I won't come back, I promise."
"Oh, but we have to take you home," Sweater said, "We wouldn't want you lost, now would we?"
Akamaru growled, and the people in the store turned and saw the three newcomers.
"Huh," T-shirt shrugged, "Just two kids come to join the party. And a mutt."
Kiba's eye twitched.
"He's not a mutt," Kiba began, but Tank-top cut in.
"Ok, then, a whelp. That better?" Tank-top asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Akamaru's a purebred-"
"Shut up, dick, we don't care," T-shirt snapped, glaring at Kiba.
"Hm...I like those sunglasses," Sweater said, looking at Shino.
The stocky boy left the girl in pink and strode towards the bug-user. Shino and Kiba glanced at each other, and that's when things started happening. The girl in pink crawled to one side, and curled up into a ball, out of the way and watching.
"I'll teach you the meaning of party!" Kiba growled, and jumped to punch T-shirt right in the face, "What's wrong with you, treating people like that!", he yelled, punching him again in the chest.
Akamaru sniffed the air and noticed something outside; he ran out the door barking.
"The hell-?" Sweater looked at his friend, "Whoa, cuz, are you all- ugh!"
Shino had punched the bigger boy right into the gut. As Sweater tried to grab a hold of him, the Aburame used the Body Flicker Technique to get behind and hit him hard on a pressure point on his neck.
"Simple," Shino said quietly, as Sweater fell to the ground, unconscious.
Kiba finished pummelling T-shirt and just let the boy fall down, senseless. Looking to the corner of the store, both boys saw Tank-top hold a kunai at the pink girl's neck.
"If you leave now, and forget everything you saw here, I won't slit her throat," Tank-top said coldly.
Beat up my boyfriend? Say goodbye to this girl, she thought angrily.
I can't hit a girl, Kiba thought.
What can I do? Shino thought, trying to create a plan that would ensure the pink girl's safety.
Suddenly, Akamaru came running in from the back of the store, barking his lungs out.
"Whoa!" Tank-top gave a start, "How did he get there?"
"Most stores have fire exits at the back, slut," a girl's voice said from a shelf behind Tank-top.
The 15-year-old turned around and was just in time to see a foot connect with her face. As the older girl fell, Deniizu dropped to the ground from her perch on the shelf.
"Hi," Deniizu said, helping the pink girl up.
Don't recognize me! We've never met in this world, so don't screw it up! Deniizu thought to the girl vehemently.
"Um...um..." the girl stammered, "H-hi...um...thank you. Thank you all...I'm Pooriin..."
"Hi, I'm Deniizu," the other girl introduced, "And that's Shino, Kiba, and Kiba's dog Akamaru," she said, pointing to each one.
"Hey, Pooriin," Kiba said gently, "It's ok. C'mon, let's get out of here."
"Um...I...I don't know where to go..." Pooriin stammered.
"You can come over to my place," Deniizu offered, "We're really close."
The dog-user nodded, and, surprisingly, he put an arm around Pooriin's shoulders as he led her out of the store. Deniizu and Shino glanced at each other, sharing a look, as Akamaru walked at Pooriin's other side.
This is a new development, Shino thought, closing the general store door behind him.
He got over me fast, Deniizu thought, as the group walked down the street.
A/N: Aw, ain't dat cute...yeah, I have nothing more to comment about. I really should get more Mr. Noodles...Anyway, please review! The story is almost over...then another 'Portal' will open. ...oo, I'm all mysterious...