Shizukana's P.O.V
My conversation with Iruka Sensei made me realize something. And that something led me to the Cemetery where my parents were buried. It was around 4 pm when I walked down the cement steps. Inside of these concrete-surrounded walls were hundreds upon hundreds of graves: each one holding a loved one and friend. One of them held my parents.
Continuing down the row closest to the wall, I found it. I sat down and made myself comfortable, pulling my gray skirt under my legs and silently wishing I had brought new flowers.
"Hey, sorry I didn't come to visit you sooner..." I spoke to the ground, "I don't even know if you'd want to listen to me, considering I forgot about you for a year." In my heart, I really did feel sorry for forgetting about them so soon. But a part of me was glad I wasn't dwelling on the past. "Today was my first day at the Academy. It was fine. Taka-kun fell asleep during the Hokage's speech, though. It was pretty funny. And I, uh, met new people."
I sighed before standing up.
"I have to go, but I will try to visit you every day. I promise."
With that, made my way back to my apartment. It wasn't too long of a walk, just 5 to 10 minutes. I passed a lot of stores and trees, nothing too exciting to note. When I arrived, I took off my shoes and entered my room, falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I guess I won't be having dinner tonight.
Two Years later...
I sat in my usual spot next to Shino. We had made a weird relationship over the two years: not best friends, but more like very close companions. He would talk about his bugs, and I would talk about the new experiments or just random facts I found interesting. I really like the fact that he explains everything right after he says it. Why you may ask? Because it gives me the feeling that he is interested in talking.
As well as Shino, I had become close friends with Hinata and Shikamaru. I had met Hinata a while ago defending her from a bunch of bullies. Shikamaru helped me ward them off.
I know. Not so Shikamaru-like, am I right?
Flashback
I was walking home from the Academy when I heard someone whimpering in fear next to an alley. Me, being the curious human I am, went to see what was happening. When I came around the corner, I found five boys (around the age of 7) bullying a small girl who seemed to be pleading with them.
Ah... Bullies, Big Ugly Lonely Losers Yearning for attention, I thought.
"Hey!" I called out feeling a new sense of courage, "Pick on someone your own size."
Wow. Real cliche.
I jumped in front of the girl and the Bullies backed away, puffing their chests in anger.
"Why don't you run along, little girl?" The guy who spoke seemed to be the leader. He was the biggest out of the 5. He also seemed the most confident, since the others seemed to fan themselves out behind him in a defensive V shape. I was also getting the vibe that he was very narcissistic, seeing as his clothing was nothing less than fresh-out-of-the-laundry and his hair was combed in a shiny up-do. I smirked. If I could rile them up to focus completely on me, the girl could sneak out.
"Little girl? Honey, look in the mirror and you'll find your 'little girl,'" I said with air quotes. I gave a chuckle since the face of the leader seemed to have gone from 'slightly disturbed' to 'angry tomato' in 3 seconds. It's funny, it wasn't even a good insult, but it made them angry.
"Now it's time for punishment," He said with his gang making their way up to me. While they were distracted with me, I used my hand to notion the girl to leave. She must have gotten the idea since she bolted away.
Now that she's gone. I focused on the boys in front of me.
"How much of an idiot are you if that measly insult did the trick?" I taunted, sticking out my tongue in an unfashionable manner. He huffed.
"I'm not an idiot."
I chuckled. "Idiot says 'what'."
He and his friends looked at me with confusion. "What?" the leader said.
"Exactly my point," I said with a smirk.
Oops... May have pissed him off...
He crushed his knuckles and threw a punch towards my face. I had practiced in speed for 6 months now. And thankfully so, since it allowed me to dodge the punch. Seeing as his punch missed, he tried to kick me, failing again and falling instead. You see, I kicked his legs out from under him.
Knowing I couldn't keep it up forever and I had the chance to escape, I ran out of the alley just as they started coming at me together. Sure, I was fast, but that didn't mean I could take on 5 massive seven-year-olds.
As I ran through the streets, I heard the yells and footsteps of the boys rushing towards me from behind. I swerved past people and carts until I crashed into someone. Both of us tripped and fell to the ground, and I heard the boys behind me stop and retreat to where ever they came from. They were yelling: "It's the Nara heir."
I immediately stood up and offered my hand to the pineapple haired boy. He took it muttering, "troublesome."
"I apologize for running into you," I said with a sincere smile. He just grunted and waved me off.
"My name is Nara Shikamaru, and you're the girl who sits with Shino in class, am I right?" he says. I nodded.
"Shizukana Tori." He nodded. I walked past him and we went our separate ways.
The next day after class, he came to ask why I was running the day prior. I told him what had happened and he seemed to understand. That was when two things happened. One: my friendship with the Nara heir began. Two: I learned the girl I defended was Hinata Hyuuga. She approached me the same day the Nara did and thanked me for helping her. We spoke for a while and seemed to connect in a friendly way. We both were relatively quiet people, and I valued that.
I made two friends that day.
End of flashback
Shikamaru and I ( as well as Choji on occasions) would watch the clouds and talk about things. He would fall asleep a few minutes later, but he would grunt back when I asked him something. Hinata and I got close as well. Surprisingly, it was she who would ramble about things as I listened. She spoke about the lessons and some interesting topics like how the festivals are and which flower represents what month. These are the things I already know, but when Hinata described them, she adds her feelings too. Like how Jasmine makes her calm and how lavenders make her happy.
Cute...
We were Taijutsu buddies. She told me about the problems in the Hyuuga Clan: like how her father expects her to be the strongest in their clan, even though she is still seven years old. Both of us spar every day for an hour, and there has been an improvement in both of our skills. Hinata uses the Hyuuga fighting style, which makes her quick on her feet and allows her to attack faster than the opponent. This style helps her clan with their Jutsu: the clan members are trained at a young age to perfect the style.
I observed Hinata and managed to copy her form of fighting, but I added a few modifications. Such as: while most Hyuuga fighters aim for pressure points in the chest or arms, I go for the ones in the legs. That way, an opponent who mainly focuses on taijutsu (such as the Hyuugas) will become slower and allow me more time to finish them off. I also try to use a few more punches than jabs, since I'm no pressure point expert. Though I'm working in it- I still don't have a name for this new kind of fighting, but Hinata says that it increases my speed.
So far off of my list, I've covered Speed and Taijutsu.
As for the other points on my list, I've been working on Chakra Control since I started at the academy. I've read all the books regarding Chakra and how to control it, but I need physical practice. Knowing the terminology is one thing, actually performing it is another. It all comes down to how well you can follow instructions. So far, I've been doing alright. If I keep practicing, I know I'll become quite good at it.
For the Weapon-point on the list, Taka-kun is helping me out. So far, I have experience with a Tanto and daggers. Shurikens and kunai are Academy based weapons, so I thought it would be best if I had a wider variety to choose to fight with. Taka-kun says I'm doing exceptionally well, considering I'm as young as I am. I'm also, apparently, good with swords.
My relationship with the main characters is currently neutral. Thankfully. It's surprisingly hard to act like a background character. I've been trying to keep my skill mediocre around them, that way I won't set off Naruto's competitive nature or Sasuke's bitter revenge-seeking mind. This means, if we get paired for anything, then I keep all my skills at an average level. The way I gauge this is by looking at every other non-essential person in the room. If a majority of them are doing not-so-well, then I will follow suit. But this is only when I'm pared with Naruto or Sasuke, which isn't often considering their character status.
But no matter how "mediocre" I try to act, I still can't help conversing with Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto just see's me as one of the average students in the class, whereas Sasuke sees me as a nuisance.
It was one time. It's not like I meant to do it-
One day, for whatever reason, Iruka Sensei paired me with Sasuke as Taijutsu partners. By then, all the girls (except Hinata and I) were fighting over their precious 'Sasuke-kun.' To be honest, I'd heard about these fangirls, but I can't believe how REDICULUS they are. Gosh- he's just 7. Leave him alone, he's not even that hot.
Anyway, when it was our turn to fight, all I wanted to do was go down with a few punches. But Sasuke had other plans. After he had found out that I beat him by 2 marks on some written test, he had formed some sort of rivalry with me. So when we started, Sasuke ran head-on towards me. I dodged, moving to the right to avoid his head-on collision. He tripped and fell which caused the whole class to gasp.
Dramatic much?
He stood up and Oh God was he pissed- He ran towards me with such speed that I had no time to dodge. I was forced to either deflect (which would lead me to injure myself) or I attack (not harm myself at all.)
Attack. Show the Uchiha who you really are. Well, try not to reveal so much.
I bent down and, as he rushed forward with his arms raised, I swept his legs from under him. This made him stumble and (while he was off guard) I rushed into a standing position and gave him a simple push to the shoulder, making him fall back onto the ground. After this plan was preformed, I then pinned him down.
Alright, a bit savage but that'll teach him.
Let me tell you, he was not so happy after that. But from then on he knew not to mess with me.
So that's that.
Currently, I am reading up on Chakra strings. I've mastered the other techniques like Tree walking and Water walking, so I'm not gonna bore you with the details. But it did take some time... Anyway, Chakra Strings. There are many ways to manipulate puppets, but if I use Chakra strings, it would help with Chakra manipulation. Here in the book, it says I need to stretch my Chakra and make it as long and as thin as possible. That way, the strings would be hard to see.
I closed my eyes and concentrated my Chakra onto my right hand. Then, I focused on stretching it like gum.
Stretch and stretch...
I slowly opened my eyes to find Chakra strings wrapped around my hand. They were not as thin as I'd like, but they were strings. Suddenly after releasing the strings of chakra, I felt a dizzy spell hit.
Chakra Exhaustion. Man, it's so hard to do anything with that...
I felt myself collapse into darkness.
A/N. Hey guys. This was just a little peek behind the curtain. In a few Chapters, I'm gonna start the plot.
Also, the little parts of Shika-Hina-Shino were nice. Also, I was thinking, many reincarnation stories give their reincarnation a special gift. Any ideas about what Shizu's gift is? Ideas are welcomed in the comments.
Ciao...