disCLAIMER: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.
Chapter 8: Friends and Failure
Sakura stood in front of Ichiraku Ramen shop, twirling her hair between her fingers. Naruto strutted down the street, his hands behind his head. She hoped to goodness that Ino was ready, because she had no idea how long she'd be able to lie to Naruto's face when he was dressed the way was. She'd told him to meet her at Ichiraku, and she'd said to dress up. Now she had to admit he spruced up quite nicely. He wore short black pants that allowed the tops of his sandals to peek out. He wore an orange, button-up shirt that matched his new coat perfectly. His forehead protector was absent, allowing his long blond hair to pool in his eyes. Sakura could tell he had tried to comb it nicely, but the wind and natural anti-gravitation of the locks kept it messy as ever. As he stood next to her, he gave her a scrutinizing look.
"Okay, Sakura-chan. I figured that you wanted me to dress up for a reason, but you aren't dressed up!" Naruto accused. Sakura flushed slightly.
"Ah, well, Naruto, you know I just..." Sakura stopped when she heard a "wuuuuu" as Ino's technique seized control of Naruto's body.
Naruto chuckled. "Shintenshin no Jutsu: a success!" He stuck his tongue out at Sakura. "You so owe me, Sakura!"
"Right. Now you know what to do?"
"Of course. Just leave it to me." Before leaving, Naruto gave Sakura a saucy look over his shoulder. "If I can make any guy like me, I sure could make any girl like me!"
Sakura sighed. "Ino, you're just taking Naruto to the restaurant. You're not trying to seduce Hinata while in his body!"
"Whatever. Later, Sakura-chan!"
Sakura watched Naruto depart, then crossed the street, where Kaori emerged from the bushes with an unconscious Ino in her arms.
"She's so skinny I can lift her easily," Kaori scoffed. "Does the girl ever eat?"
"Rarely," Sakura smiled. She blinked and wiped the eye a raindrop had just invaded. "We'll take her to my house until she's done. It would be bad to leave her in the bushes when it rained."
Kaori nodded and followed Sakura back to her house, which Hinata had departed from twenty minutes early, all spruced up and blushing like a bride. Kaori was truly glad to be doing something for the shy young woman. When Ino's body had been settled on the couch, Sakura set about sprucing up Kaori. She'd showered at her house and threw her hair up in a fresh bandana, ready for whatever tweaking Sakura was prepared to do on it. Kaori took a deep breath and closed her eyes obediently as Sakura pulled out a stick of eyeliner to trace her eyes with.
A soft moan caught their attention. Ino sat up triumphantly.
"Mission get-Naruto-and-Hinata-on-a-date completed," she said proudly. "They're both at Panda no Niwa. It's up to Hinata now." Her eyes widened as she saw Sakura's project on Kaori's face. "Ooh, let me help!" She yanked Kaori's bandana off and untangled her hair, gasping in awe.
"My, my, you have lovely hair! Good thing I'm an expert at hair-care, right Sakura?"
"Yeah I guess." Sakura smiled at Ino.
"How much time do we have?"
"Half an hour."
Ino's eyes bugged out. "Huh? That's not nearly enough time to do my hair decently. My, my, Sakura-chan. You're cutting it close. Well, no sense wasting time talking. Hand me the brush."
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Naruto blinked his eyes. A moment ago he'd been talking to Sakura, now he was sitting at a table in a nice restaurant. Alone. He scratched his head, definitely confused. He looked about, noticing that few people were eating. No waiters were lurking about either. He turned and noticed a young woman alone at a table nearby.
"Excuse me, okusan. Did you see me come in here?"
Her head remained bowed, but she shook her head. "N-no. I'm sorry."
"Ah, damn it." Naruto was really confused. He studied the young woman, finding her to be familiar. "Uh, do I know you?"
She raised her eyes to meet his. Naruto fell out of his chair.
"Eh? Hinata?" He scrambled back up to get a better look at the blushing girl. "Wow! I didn't recognize you, you look so beautiful!"
Hinata froze at his comment, trying very hard to be at ease but finding it extremely difficult.
"N-naruto-kun..."
"Why are you here all by yourself?" Naruto sat in the chair opposite her.
"I was told someone would meet me. And that the meal was already paid for."
"Hm..." Naruto looked around the restaurant. "Doesn't look like they showed up."
"Um, Naruto-kun? Would you like to join me? You can order whatever you like."
Free food. Naruto perked right up. "Okay!" He thought a moment. "Are you sure it's okay, Hinata? Maybe you want to eat alone."
"N-no. I'd much rather eat with you." Hinata blushed a deep red.
"Okay!" he said again. He gave her a warm grin, which Hinata returned, immense relief washing over her features. A waiter arrived with a bottle and poured a deep red liquid into their glasses. Naruto raised his towards Hinata.
"What are we toasting to, Naruto-kun?"
"Hm, I was just thinking...how about...us!"
"Us?" Hinata blinked.
"For finally going on that date that I've been meaning to ask you out on," Naruto concluded, gulping his drink. Hinata shook slightly, startled by his answer. Naruto choked as he gasped in his drink.
"It's real wine!" he sputtered.
"Yes, okyaku-san," stated the waiter. "It was paid for by someone over the age of twenty, so it matters not to me who drinks it. As long as you drink it responsibly. I trust Hinata-sama with that."
Hinata blushed under the waiter's praise, who promised to return for their orders in a few minutes. Naruto overcame his initial shock and sipped the wine instead. It tasted much better that way. He put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair.
"There's nothing better than eating a good meal with a good friend," he mused. Hinata smiled, unable to agree more.
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The downpour had started as soon as Kaori had put her dress on. Fortunately Sakura had a long hooded cloak to lend to her, so Kaori wouldn't be soaked. She couldn't decide if the rain was a blessing or a curse: on one hand, the dress might be ruined, while on the other no one would be out and catching a glimpse of her in her embarrassing attire. She thought Sakura, Ino, and Hinata had done a wonderful job, but not on her. If she was someone else, she'd look fine. But she was Kaori. A sailor. Hardly a woman. And right now she was more feminine than even typical females were. She tottered on heels, but only because Sakura pointed out that Suzume would notice if she was wearing them or not. Damn.
Even as she reached the entrance to the Academy, the rain beat down even harder. Her shoes were uncomfortably wet, but she clicked hurriedly as she dashed down the halls, nearly ten minutes late for the test. She rounded the corner for the final stretch when her nose collided with a very hard chest. She fell on her rear, holding her nose and begging her eyes not to leak tears all over her face. She glared up at a tall figure wearing a black cloak. Her eyes went wide, realizing it was Naruto's friend, Uchiha something-or-other. She yanked her hood back on and dashed passed the man's side, praying he didn't recognize her. The last thing she needed was more rumors going around about her. She entered the classroom, slammed the door shut, and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
Sasuke blinked slowly, aware a woman in a dark blue dress and a rain-soaked cloak had just ran smack into his chest and fallen down. He'd never seen her before, and was almost unsure that it happened, for the next moment she had been gone. Only the slamming of a door alerted him to the fact that she wasn't just some illusion. Why there had been a fancily-dressed woman in the Ninja Academy was beyond him, and simply shook his head and continued out of the building into the rain.
Kaori found her relief to be short-lived. Suzume was standing before her, looking quite livid.
"You're ten minutes late, Kaori, and that will be considered into your final score," she harumphed.
"Aye, Sensei," Kaori said sweetly. God, was she in for a rough evening. But when Suzume moved away from the door, Kaori had second thoughts about the imminent torture. A small table with candles and dishware was prepared for two people. And standing next to the set-up was the most handsome man Kaori had ever seen. He approached her and offered to take her dripping cloak, which she gave up numbly. He wore basic black, but it was attire completely different from what he normally wore, and therefore made it exotic. His forehead was sans the protector, revealing a tiny curl of hair planted in the middle. His dark brown hair was loosed from its traditional ponytail, hanging leisurely about the Chuunin's face, which was blushing. Kaori felt it was reflecting her own blush of self-consciousness. Iruka hung her cloak near the door and turned towards Kaori, oddly unsure of himself.
"Kaori, you look...very nice," he said neutrally. This only deepened Kaori's blush. As he held out his arm to lead her to her seat, Kaori took it sheepishly. Who knew underneath that neurotic teacher exterior was this sexy epitome of a man?
"Iruka-sensei, why do you have to be so hot?" Kaori muttered. Iruka stiffened at this, and his blush grew mightily. His unease set Kaori's nervousness back somewhat. She wasn't the only one uncomfortable that evening.
The events seemed to proceed smoothly, at least in Kaori's opinion, but she noticed Suzume's continuous scribbling in her annoying notebook, which never held good things about Kaori in it. The food wasn't really edible, as it was just replications, but it still tested her utensil use and table manners. Kaori choked on the "wine" as she tasted cranberry juice instead. She hated cranberries. Then Suzume told them it was time to dance. And that's when Kaori felt the evening come crashing down. Literally.
Iruka offered his hand, and Kaori managed to take it gracefully. But upon stepping from her chair, she stepped off-centre of the heel and fell forward. She gripped at nothing, just snagging the tablecloth and pulling all the contents on the table down on her. The candles lit the cloth on fire as well as the spidery mesh of her dress. Yelping loudly, Kaori kicked away the burning cloth and patted at the smoldering material on her dress. Suzume shrieked and shook her papers off her lap, which had caught on fire when Kaori had kicked the table cloth away. She was sitting on Iruka's desk, which in turn became lit with flaming papers. Kaori stood and grabbed the bottle of cranberry juice and doused the fire with it. Instead, the flames roared to life happily. Kaori looked at the label on the bottle, which read "Cranberry wine". Her first thought was "yuck", her second thought was "oops".
Iruka yelled something incoherent, then rushed to the window and threw it open. A cold breeze whipped in and played with the fire, taunting the flames to grow higher. He formed several seals, then spread his hands towards the fire.
"Suiton: Hisenrei no Jutsu!" Iruka called, sending small waves of water upon the fire. He held his hands out and kept the water flowing until every last ember was completely doused. Those including the ones on Kaori's dress and on Suzume's papers. Both women were soaked, and as Iruka lowered his arms, panting slightly at his effort, the sprinkler system came on. Everything was already soaked, but it still startled them all. Iruka sighed and rubbed his temples. Damn sprinkler system. He walked forward and examined the scene. His desk was in ruins, as well as the papers and tools that inhabited it. Suzume was so furious her face was a bright red and her mouth moved noiselessly. Kaori was completely horrified, her face as white as the table cloth had once been. Iruka stepped closer, intent on helping her off the floor, but she gasped and crawled away. She struggled with her wet dress to her feet, which were no longer housed by her shoes. With a small grunt she tore through the door and ran for her life.
Kaori felt like throwing up. She couldn't think of how that incident could have gotten worse. Maybe if someone had died. Kaori bit her lip through at that thought. It was a horrible thought, but she wouldn't put it past her luck for something like that to happen. She let the blood from her lip run down her chin, unaware of the trickle as the rain pounded down on her. She ran aimlessly, hoping to get as far away from that disaster of a test as she could. There was no way Godaime would let her be a ninja now. She couldn't even fail a test properly.
The mud suctioned her bare feet to the ground, and her dress and hair weighed heavily upon her. She hadn't even noticed when Ino's crown had fallen out and set her mane free. Gods, Ino and Sakura and Hinata had gone through so much trouble for her, and now she couldn't even return the dress as she apologized for screwing up. She was a failure as a woman and as a Shinobi, and now she was furious for letting Temujin talk her into being something other than a sailor. It would be a new experience, he'd said. You're good at lots of things, how do you know you won't be good at this? Fuck you, Temujin.
"Fuck you!" she screamed, punching a large tree. The pain in her fists only enraged her more, so she plunged her other fist into the bark. It hurt like hell, but the dripping blood seeped out her pain. She punched again, and again, making her knuckles raw as she shucked away skin. Sap oozed from the tree's wound, mixing with her own in an incredible stinging sensation.
"You know, you'd do more damage if you focused Chakra into your fists," came a deep voice.
Kaori cried out and turned to face the intruder. He had a black hood over his hair, but he couldn't hid his smirking expression.
"What's your name again?"
"Uchiha Sasuke."
"Fuck you, Uchiha." With that, Kaori launched herself at Sasuke. He dodged with a minimum amount of movement and was behind her easily. She tried again, only this time he hit her back with the side of his hand. Kaori grunted, nearly falling from the force.
"I can easily tell who your training instructor is. No deftness to your movements at all. Just obvious and pitiful."
Kaori roared and leapt at his neck, clawing hopefully at the tender flesh. Sasuke snatched her own neck with one hand and lifted her away from him. Kaori gurgled, holding his wrist tightly. Her feet wouldn't touch the ground.
"You can't even get out of a situation like this? You're a pathetic ninja. I don't know your story, but you should have stayed where you were." Sasuke tightened his grip on her neck. Kaori didn't know if he intended to kill her or not, but she wasn't going to wait til the last second to find out. She forced her head down enough to look at Sasuke, then summoned a load of spit and sent it into his face. As his free hand went to wipe it away in disgust, she brought her right foot forward as hard as she could. Right into his groin. She was released immediately, and Sasuke collapsed as she did. Kaori held her aching throat, desperate for air. Sasuke didn't seem to be breathing.
His head shakily lifted to reveal angry red eyes. "You bitch!" he managed to gasp. Kaori wobbled to her knees, knowing she should be afraid of those eyes. She forced her weak legs forward and stumbled from the clearing. When she managed a steady pace, she glanced back to see if he was following. She doubted he could, for she'd kicked him hard enough to make him sore for days, but that didn't make her any less paranoid.
"Kami-sama, where do I go?" she wondered aloud. If Iruka was going to come after her, he would wait at her apartment. She needed to get out of the rain. Kaori found herself heading for Naruto's apartment. If Iruka came looking there, Naruto could always keep him out. She was afraid of Iruka.
Kaori left a muddy, wet trail through the building up to Naruto's door. She knocked, then pounded, then sank to the floor with a sigh as she realized he was probably still on his date with Hinata. Obviously his meal went well.
Curling herself into a ball to keep warm as she waited, Kaori felt a myriad of emotions. Her last fleeting though as she nodded off was what could she have possibly gotten herself into.