Enter Kana, The Apologetic Ninja
"Hey Acea, Kiba's here, we're going out to breakfast. I'll see you at the training grounds."
Acea gave a half-hearted wave before going back to her onigiri.
Ami watched as her friend's food missed her mouth entirely; Acea seemed a little distracted this morning…
"So Ami, what is it like where you're from?"
Kiba's voice brought her back to here and now.
"Huh? Oh, well its pretty much desert, but where I'm from, it's an oasis with palm trees bigger than these buildings and our village was famous for its dog." She sighed happily at the memory.
"It's really cool, I hope I'll be able to show you it someday."
Kiba grinned.
"Me too, it sounds really nice. And what are your parents like?"
Ami shrugged.
"They're like any other parents I guess, except my dad is the village's top dog breeder." The pride was very evident in her voice.
"That's cool. Hey we're here. What would you like for breakfast?"
Ami sat down at a booth and skimmed through the menu.
"I don't know, everything looks so good… Hey they serve western breakfasts here. Wanna try one of those?"
Kiba grinned.
"Sure."
The waiter soon came and filled their orders. They chatted about different things until their food came. Two plates of toast, eggs, sausage, and pancakes were set in front of them. Ami stared at the food wide-eyed.
"How are we going to eat all this?"
Kiba smirked.
"Easy! You pick up a fork, and put it in your mouth, like so."
Ami giggled as she followed suit.
———————————————————————-
Acea ran as fast as she could towards the training grounds, trying to balance her scrolls as she did.
"Shoot, I'm going to be late….again!"
She was so preoccupied with being late, that she never noticed the girl that had been standing in the middle of the sidewalk.
BAM!
Acea hit her dead on, and the girl went flying. She fell on her bum in an undignified manner and tried to pick up the scrolls that had gone flying from her hands.
"I'M SORRY!"
Acea popped her head up.
"Huh?"
The girl she had hit into was frantically trying to pick up the scrolls.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…."
Acea put her hand up to stop her.
"Wait, wait, wait. Stop. It's not your fault. I hit into you."
"I'm sorry…"
"STOP IT!"
"Sorry…."
Acea smacked her hand against her face. She finished gathering the scrolls, and took the ones the girl had picked up.
"What's your name anyway?"
The girl seemed to brighten up considerably.
"I'm Kana Aiko."
The girl had almost waist length hair, all black except for the two streaks of metallic purple that hung over her shoulder. She had a silver snake wrapped around her right arm, and a ninja band was tied around her right ankle.
Acea eyed it for a moment.
"You're from the Mist Tribe?"
Kana looked surprised.
"How did you know?"
She pointed to her own headband.
"The head band kind of gave it away."
"Oh…"
"So what are you doing here anyway?"
Kana looked down at her feet for a moment.
"Well…. I was kinda kicked outta my training squad for being too apologetic…"
"TRAINING!"
Acea had forgotten all about that…
"I'M GOING TO BE SO LATE!"
"Sorry…"
Acea scowled as she started running again. The entire time, she kept thinking, "I'm going to be late, I'm going to be late…"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You're late Acea."
Acea trudged to the training grounds, embarrassed at her tardiness.
Hiroshi was already there of course, but it looked like he just arrived too.
"What's your excuse today?"
She rolled her eyes as she tossed her scrolls down near a tree.
"Would you believe me if I said I ran into an apologetic psycho?"
Hiroshi laughed out loud at her excuse.
"I might, its more believable than other excuses I've heard."
"I'm sorry…"
Both eyes turned to the source of the voice.
"I ran into Acea-chan, and caused her to be late. I'm so sorry."
Hiroshi looked back and forth between Acea and the new girl.
"And you are?"
"I'm Kana Aiko, from the Mist Tribe."
Hiroshi smiled.
"Welcome Kana, Are you here for the training program too? You are? Acea, if you don't mind, I'm going to walk Kana to the Hokage's office. Apologize to Rin Sensei for me when or if she decides to show up."
"That's right." Acea thought. "Rin Sensei isn't here either…"
"Okay Hiroshi. Ami should be here soon anyway so we'll practice something. Have fun meeting Tsunade-sama, Kana."
Kana smiled as she waved, then to Hiroshi said, "I'm sorry if I was interrupting your training…"
Hiroshi chuckled as he walked beside her.
"It's no problem. Our sensei wasn't even there yet anyway."
"I'm sorry."
"…."
Acea spotted Ami and Kiba walking towards her holding hands. (Aaaaaawwwww)
"Hey guys."
They spotted her and waved.
Kiba gave Ami a quick peck on the cheek.
"Hey I gotta go, but I'll see you at lunch okay?"
Ami nodded as he ran back to wherever his three-man squad was meeting.
"Isn't he the greatest?"
Acea held back a smart-alec comment.
"If you say so… but haven't you guys only known each other a day?"
Ami smiled as she draped her arm over her friend's shoulder.
"Come on, let's wait for Rin Sensei."
She evaded her question completely.
"For once, you're the only one that's on time…."
Ami started running before Acea could smack her.
————————————————————————
Hiroshi walked next to Kana as he was showing her around Konoha. Tsunade-sama had requested that he show her around, since it was the first day of training he probably wouldn't miss much anyway.
"Don't worry if Acea seemed kinda mad when you met her. She can act tough, but deep down, she's a really nice person."
Kana nodded, and they continued the tour.
"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!"
They both turned around and saw a young man with short black hair, garbed in a black belly shirt, with black pants.
"What do you want Sai?"
Sai ignored him and walked over to Kana, taking her hand.
"Do you have a map?"
Kana looked confused.
"Um… No... Why?"
"Because I keep getting lost in your eyes."
Hiroshi rolled his eyes.
"Oh brother. Come on Kana, we need to finish that tour."
Sai just held onto her hands, not ready to leave.
"But I just wanted…"
"Sai, Sasuke came back, we don't need you any more. Go away."
All eyes turned to the young man standing behind
Sai.
He had dark brown, not quite waist length hair, gathered at the bottom with a hair tie. His white eyes shone with annoyance at his companion. Stepping between the two, he took Kana's hand from Sai's, but didn't let it go.
"Aw come on Neji, I was just admiring her beauty…"
"Then do it from afar. Let's go."
Letting go of her hand, he pushed Sai away.
Pouting, he left reluctantly, but not before sending Neji a death glare. He ignored it, and turned to Kana.
"You'll have to forgive Sai. He can be obnoxious and annoying, but after awhile you get used to it."
Kana opened her mouth to apologize, but Hiroshi clamped a hand over it.
"Well, we better get going. See yah around Neji."
Pulling his hands away, Kana waved to Neji before following after Hiroshi.
Neji watched them until they were out of sight.
"Don't get any ideas, she's mine."
"Get a life Sai."
————————————————————————
Ami looked around, wondering where their Sensei was.
"Hey Acea, do you think we should look for her?"
Acea, who was leaning against a tree, swore under her breath.
"This is getting frustrating. She should have been here an hour ago!"
She pounded the tree angrily. There was a rustle above them, and with a thud, Rin fell out of the tree. Acea jumped and Ami screamed. Rin's eyes snapped open and took in her surroundings.
"Am I at the training grounds?" she asked.
Acea fell over.
"Rin Sensei, where have you been? We've been waiting here for the past hour!"
Rin thought through what had happened the night before. Visions of falling out the window, landing in Kakashi's arms, and running away like a maniac, flashed through her mind.
"Have I been up there the whole night?" she thought to herself.
She looked at her students who were waiting for an answer.
"I was um... hiding there… to uh... see if you guys would be able to detect me. Obviously, we have a lot to learn as far as being able to detect an enemy who might be lying in wait."
Ami smiled and nodded, Acea looked doubtful but didn't press the matter.
"Okay for today's mission…"
Kakashi woke up with a start. Looking up, the first thing he saw was a big cow face.
"NANDAA????????"
"Oh good you're awake."
Looking beyond the cow face, Kakashi saw an old man in farm overalls, leaning against the wall of the barn.
"I thought you'd never wake up."
He sat up slowly, thinking through what had happened the night before.
Visions of walking with Iruka, catching a beautiful girl that fell from the sky, and chasing after her, flashed through his mind. He had pursued her late into the night, but was unable to find her. The last thing he remembered was running, then slowing to jog, and then a walk… and apparently had collapsed.
"Yah gave me a scare there sonny. I tried to wake yah up, but yah didn't."
Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. The farmer looked at him curiously.
"That must have been one strong drink to knock yah out like that."
Kakashi fell back to the ground.
"What time is it?"
The old man looked outside.
"Well, if I were to venture a guess, I'd say almost noon."
Kakashi got up quickly and made a mad dash for door. He looked outside to see all farmlands.
"Where am I?"
The farmer walked over and stood next to him.
"You're in Farmsdale, I named it myself."
Kakashi's one eye opened wide. That was at least fifty miles away from the village.
"Yah, ol' Bessie here carried yah all the way."
Turning to the old farmer, he said, "Thank you for your uh... hospitality, Mr. Uh…"
"I'm Akoto Chika, you should stick around and meet my daughter sometime…"
"That's nice, but I really should be going."
The old farmer nodded, "Nice to meetcha sonny, come by any time to say hi to me or Bessie."
Kakashi waved as he started running back to town.
"Poor Naruto, Sakura, and Sasake. They must be so worried about me…."
"Hey Naruto, pass the ramen."
"Sure thing Sasuke."
Sakura looked between the two and sweatdropped.
"Aren't you guys even a little
worried about Kakashi Sensei?"
They stopped, looked from Sakura
to each other to Sakura again, and started laughing.