Forgotten

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Naruto (Shippuden). This is a story inspired by the original made up for entertainment purposes only. - Krystal

Chapter 9: The Bet

She was just sitting by the edge, under the balcony where Kakashi was meeting his new students. They were surprisingly quiet as, she knew, Kakashi were examining each of them.

"Why don't we start with introductions? You know, so we can get to know each other better?" asked Kakashi monotonously.

"Introductions?" asked the female kunoichi. "Can you give us an example, sensei?"

"Let's see." began Kakashi with the same tone. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. Things that I like... Things that I dislike... My dream... I don't feel like telling you guys. Your turn."

Typical Kakashi. Yuki thought to herself as she smiled. He has always been such a mysterious character. Even though she's known him for over 5 years now, she still doesn't really know much about him. He tended to keep everything to himself. He never said much, he never showed much. Yuki never bothered asking either. It was an ANBU thing to be so secretive.

"Let me start! My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen, but even more than cup ramens, I love Ichiraku's ramen... Especially when Iruka-sensei treats me to it. I dislike..." he stopped.

He was glaring at Sasuke who glared back at him from the corner of his eyes. He continued on:

"My dream is to become the Hokage!"

At that statement, Yuki couldn't help but smile. Naruto was indeed an interesting character. He somehow overcame the loneliness and hate that the villagers shun upon him. Despite the hate received, he was able turn it into love, love for this village. Even though he is known to be the worst in class, to Yuki, he was an outstanding person, one who was bound to become stronger than any other ninjas in this village. She is often praised for her talent, but she believed it was nothing compared to Naruto's strength and ability to turn hate into love.

"Alright, Naruto. Next." said Kakashi.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like, I mean love..." The female started to squeal. "I dislike Naruto. My dream is..." Another squeal could be heard.

"Next." said Kakashi with an unchanging tone.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There aren't many things that I like. There are many things I hate. My dream... I wouldn't call it so. It would be more of ambition. That is to kill a certain man."

Yuki suddenly felt a stab into her heart. If she didn't guess it wrong, it was Itachi. Her smile turned into a frown. Unlike Naruto, Sasuke isn't coping well with loneliness. He has isolated himself even more rather than trying form bonds with others. It pained her to see him acting so. She began to question her decision of not getting involved with him and being a emotional support for him. However, when it all happened, she, herself, wasn't emotionally stable. She missed Itachi. He was almost like family to her.

"Alright, I've heard what you all had to say. You might think you all are ninjas already, but there's much you guys still need to learn. I'll meet you at the training rounds tomorrow morning at 5AM. Oh, and don't eat breakfast, you might throw it up if not. See ya!" said Kakashi as he transported himself elsewhere.

As he was gone, Yuki could sense the fear coming from the new genins. She heard them swallowing their saliva while, perhaps, a drop of sweat might have hit the ground. Fear was understandable. Although they won't get hurt all that much during this process, Kakashi isn't one to go easy on them either. He might not have a go at it seriously, but it doesn't mean he'll just fool around. He was right about them still having much to learn. Fear and the anticipation of something that could turn out to be bad are also things that they must experience. Yuki sighed at those thoughts. She also left the premises shortly after Kakashi disappeared.

It was the night before the genins of team 7 were to meet Kakashi. Sticking to her habit of never revealing herself, Yuki decided to check on each of them. She first stopped at the female ninja's place. Her place was neat, but messy at the same time. There was clothes on her bed and some on her chair. Her bed was, however, made and her books on the desk was neatly placed in order. Her room looked like a typical teenager's bedroom. There was nothing special about this place. Her forehead protector was neatly placed on her desk. Although she seemed more interested in Sasuke according to her answer earlier in the day when talking abut her likes and dreams, she obviously cared a lot about being a ninja. With that alone, Yuki could tell that she would eventually become a great ninja. From outside her house, Yuki could hear an older female voice ask:

"Sakura, aren't you going to have dinner?"

"No. I'm currently on a diet. I'm going to hit the bed early. I have to be out bright and early tomorrow morning."

This one is bound to starve tomorrow morning. She probably won't have breakfast tomorrow either as Kakashi recommended. Yuki thought to herself. She left to go check on Naruto.

It wasn't the first time she was going to Naruto's place. She was always curious about how he was doing. Many times, she wanted to go up to him and talk to him, but didn't know how to approach him and what to say to him. There was light coming from his window. He was probably already home. It was unusual for him to be home so early. He usually wandered around the village until much later. Yuki walked up the stairs to his place. There was no need, or so she believed, to sneakily approach his place. The stairs led to his place only. He lived on the highest floor, isolated from everybody else. As she was walking, she heard footsteps behind her and a voice called her out:

"Oi, who are you? Why are you going to my place?"

It was Naruto. He probably forgot to turn off the lights at his place earlier this morning. She did not reply to his questions.

"Do I know you? You seem vaguely familiar..." he said.

"We've briefly met before." Yuki said as she turned around and smiled.

"You are smiling." he said as he looked away.

Yuki nodded. "Does it make you uncomfortable?"

"Yeah. I'm not used to people smiling when talking to me. Only Iruka-sensei does that from time to time when he is not scolding me."

"I see." Yuki said softly. "Do you mind inviting me to your place? We are somewhat old friends after all."

"Huh? Wait, I can't even remember... AAAHH! We went for ramen together once, right? You were tiny back then!"

"So were you."

"We are old friends after all!" he said cheerfully as he opened the door for Yuki to come in.

Yuki was about to remove her shoes but Naruto stopped her:

"I wouldn't remove your shoes if I were you..."

"Why..."

"My place is a little dirty..."

Yuki looked in and saw that there were things everywhere on the ground and a pungent odor suddenly hit her nose. Although Yuki was just as young as Naruto, her place was spotless. Everything was in place and everything was perfectly clean.

"Do you want to go to Ichiraku ramen instead? My treat?" asked Yuki as she slowly backed away from Naruto's door.

"You offered!" he yelled as he rushed out his place and closed the door.

As he led the way, Yuki looked at his back. He was walking more confidently. He was able to, more than ever, to hold his head up high. They didn't talk much as they ate. Yuki silently slurped her noodles while Naruto kept asking for seconds and extra toppings. When they finished, he thanked her and said:

"Once I start making some money as a ninja, I will treat you, old friend."

Yuki nodded and smiled as she waved goodbye to him.

Yuki decided to head back to her place. She did not bother visiting Sasuke. For some reason, after meeting Naruto, she felt at ease about Sasuke. Sasuke was someone who needed a friend, one that is warmer than the sun. Naruto had that warmth exuding from him.

"Back from your investigation?"

"Senpai, have you been waiting here for long?"

"Not really. So, what do think of these kids?"

"They are pretty interesting."

"Do you think they'll be able to pass the test tomorrow?"

"What do you think?"

"No." he replied firmly as he sighed. "They are three very self-centered individuals."

"Let's bet on it."

He looked at Yuki with a face that had an obvious question mark drawn on it.

"I bet you'll let them pass the test tomorrow." she said confidently. "I'm usually right with my bets."

"You know that in order to win that bet I can purposely make them fail." he said with a smirk.

She laughed.

"Talking about bets, I'll be away for a while to bring news of the village to her. I guess I'll have to wait until I get back to hear about the results."

"Don't spend too much time with her or her bad habits will get passed on to you. You've already started betting..."

Yuki smiled and raised her shoulders as she went into her apartment. As she pulled her blanket up to her neck, she already started wondering what she would ask of Kakashi once the results of her winning the bet came out.

End of Chapter 9

Happy New Year!

Thank you for reading!

xoxox

Krystal