Chapter Four: ...that you have to think of creative ways to introduce characters that everyone already knows
It was early in the morning and Samantha wasn't sure what woke her. She blinked her hazel eyes, stretching. The first thing Sam realized was that her cats weren't nearby - because she had cats. They were her creatures of choice, but that did not make her the crazy cat lady. Even if some argued that was the case. (She only had three. Three! And the second and third came by happenstance.) The next thing Samantha noticed was that the ceiling did not look like it should. After all, having taken a similar vibe to a bohemian bedroom, she'd decorated her ceiling with awesome wind chimes, fairy lights, and a bohemian tapestry. So, to not see that ceiling when she had no recollection of staying over at Victoria's house was, well… unnerving. Panic filled her mind before the events of the previous day came to the forefront.
Sitting up to look out the window of the room that Kakashi had so graciously given over to the two friends, Samantha viewed the pale light streaming through Konoha. If she had to guess, Sam would say it was at least six or six-thirty in the morning. Often times, when she would head to bed early (early being at least 10p.m.) Sam would find herself waking up way too early. Usually between five and six. The burden of someone who works the night shift - or so she'd been told. Either way, with the opinion that she'd rather not have to waste her time sleeping, Samantha was okay with this set of events. Being an early riser on her days off left her with time to take full advantage of said days, without time passing too quickly while she was unconscious.
Looking to her left, Samantha noticed Victoria, arms and legs splayed every which way on what could only be called a sleeping bag where they were from. Apparently mattresses were a hard thing to come by, and with someone who never had guests stay the night, Kakashi only had this modification. Something similar to what you'd see in Japan. After all… they did tend to sleep on the floors with some type of mattress. Sam couldn't remember what they were called, though.
Stretching once more, Samantha stood up, feeling awake and ready for the day. She grabbed her clothes that Kakashi had given them, before stepping out towards the bathroom to change and do all those necessities that your body required. And soon enough, Samantha was refreshed, well… except for her hair needing a serious brushing, but that couldn't be helped until they found a way to buy a brush. Oh yeah… how are we supposed to buy stuff in this world? Were they supposed to live off the funds of their guard? The thought was a little disconcerting, but some part of her remembered Kakashi's mischievous face and couldn't help but think that the man really wouldn't care.
Her soft feet padded on the floor, as Samantha never took her socks off. Well, only because Kakashi had gotten both she and Victoria another pair in lieu of their own being sweaty, smelly, and probably needing to be thrown away… but, socks were like heaven. They kept you warm and comfy. And there were so many different kinds! Soft and fluffy, some padded enough to be like slippers, and even thin enough to look like you weren't wearing socks… but best of all. They could share in your otaku needs, with patterns and characters printed and displayed on your legs for your viewing only or to share with the world. Yeah. Sammy loved socks. It was especially grand as the use of socks softened your steps, and so she felt comfortable knowing she would not be waking up their guard.
Once again dressed and admiring her outfit - Samantha looked pretty freaking awesome if she said so herself - Sam heard sounds in the kitchen. Hesitating, wondering if she should head back to the bedroom, Sam decided that since he was awake, she'd go bother Kakashi.
She came in on the sight of the fierce jounin...looking just as fierce as normal. She had been anticipating some sign that the man at least slept or something, but he was at Kakeshi-Standard: headband, tactical vest, gloves and all. The only sign that he was in his home and not a battlefield was the way he twirled a spatula around one finger rather than a shuriken. He gave Samantha a nod of good morning and then gently prodded the sizzling bacon in his pan.
Samantha bounded over to the man, a sparkly grin on her face. "O-oh! You're making breakfast!" She looked at the contents. Eggs, bacon, rice? Some sort of sauce for the rice? Pork to go with the rice? Samantha couldn't help raising her brow at the sight. "That's some variety you got there."
There was a slight hesitation as he looked over the various pans and plates on the counter. Then he gave an expressive shrug. "I wasn't sure what visiting spies ate for breakfast."
Samantha snorted out a giggle before posing a hand on her hip, "Well, I don't know about visiting spies, but I'm good with eggs and bacon!" Her eyes sparkled. "I have been known to eat rice for breakfast too, I suppose." She shrugged, "In any case… ya done good!" She patted his arm before twirling about to sit on the couch, admiring the handsome man as he cooked. Men who cooked were sexy. Victoria was missing out! Sam had half a mind to go wake the woman up just so she wouldn't miss this.
"So, do you cook breakfast every morning?" Samantha was fairly certain he didn't, but the anime never went into that kind of detail. Kakashi just never seemed the type, but who knew?
He poked at the bacon as though it were the most fascinating thing in the world. Eventually though, the jonin seemed to determine that she must have been invested in hearing his answer, so he spoke. "Not every morning." The way he said that made Sam remember the empty fridge and the almost stale quality of the air when they had first arrived the day before. As a full fledged (if former) member of the Anbu Black Ops, Kakashi probably wasn't home much. He spent most of his time on the road and in danger. Breakfast every morning was probably a rare luxury for any shinobi.
Feeling slightly silly, Samantha awkwardly nodded her head, "Gotcha," she replied. As much as she enjoyed being around people, Sam tended to stay on the quiet side. She listened more than she spoke. It's why it was good for her to have a best friend like Victoria. Tori was super amazing at coming up with conversation and weird random facts and tidbits. So, after the jounin's reply, their conversation teetered off and Samantha decided to browse the bookshelf, too much energy coursing through her to sit still. Besides, it was fun getting to read Japanese! Or at least, the little she knew. Sam was studying Japanese, but was by no means prolific in the language.
From the neighboring room, they could hear Victoria greet the morning with a rather pathetic moan. Samantha couldn't help laughing at her poor friend's misery. When Sam opened the door to that room she saw Victoria rubbing her left foot with an awful grimace and tears in her eyes. Caught in her agony, Tori tossed it off with her typical humor. "They hurt so much, SamSam" she said with exaggerated patheticness. "My soul has been slayed by the shinobi of the Hidden Leaf tribe."
"Well, that sucks," Samantha giggled, "There is a tub here… you could always soak your feet… I bet we could connive Kakashi to buy us some bath salts."
"Did you get it?" Tori said, "Soul? Like...foot soles..." She gave her long-time friend a hopeful smile. Sam knew that smile; it was the "please laugh at my pun and tell me I'm smart!" smile. Victoria wore it a lot…. So Samantha dutifully laughed and was rewarded by Victoria grinning like a total dork. "I just hope that there's no more hiking today. Do you think we could not hike today? Cuz that would be so great."
Sam grinned a dorky smile of her own, "I doubt we'll be doing any hiking… but I can't promise no walking…" She bit her lip, hesitating in her next thought, not sure how Tori would take to the idea, even if it started out as hers, "I was thinking about what you said last night. I want to see it. I want to see some actual jutsu - and not just because it's cool," Samantha warned, knowing the words that were right on the tip of Tori's lips, "Honestly… this is still all too unbelievable. I mean… Kakashi called me a visiting spy earlier, but… we had nothing to do with coming here in the first place! I feel like… if I saw it for myself… I could believe it. I could believe this place." A small frown found its way on Samantha's face as she thought about the prospects of this all being a lie. But oh, how she wanted it to be real! She really, really did.
Switching to her other foot, Victoria considered the situation as she tried to rub some of the stiffness from her arches "Well, I think we have to be really careful," she started, pointing out the most obvious. "Cuz whether we really traveled to another world or are being manipulated by a whole cast of people, either situation means that they have a ton of power over what we can do and what happens to us. I think we should try to fit in as much as we can while still being non-threatening." She chewed the inside of her lower lip thoughtfully. "Let's try to follow Kakashi's lead on this one. He seems the most chill and prone to trust us - although I really don't know why. Maybe just out of a sadistic curiosity, I guess. But let's see what he tells us to do, and we'll both try to keep a really good eye out for any chakra-based activities." She held up a thumbs up in a "we totally got this" sort of way. "Yeah?"
"You don't think we could convince him to take us to a team practicing their awesome jutsu?" Samantha questioned, not necessarily expecting an answer. "He does have a nice rivalry with Might Guy," She wiggled her eyebrows at Tori.
Tori gave her a "that sounds like a bad idea" face. "Well...I wouldn't…" she drawled slowly. "Cuz I think if we are too suspicious they will throw us in ninja jail, and I'm just too cute for prison."
Samantha laughed outright, but felt her shoulders sag, "I guess that's a good point… I just wanna see some cool jutsu…" She mumbled the last part, scratching her cheek. Sighing loudly, Samantha fell to the ground next to Tori, splaying her arms and legs out dramatically, "I miss my phone," She lamented quietly, "At least I could read some good fanfiction."
Victoria laughed at her dramatic flopping. "Well, it's not fanfiction, but I do have at least my google drive, so you could read all my old stuff. Granted, we gotta be super careful about battery life. Based on things, I'd say we are stuck somewhere in the 80s."
"You and your period based timelines…" Samantha rolled her eyes with a tiny smile. Victoria ignored her and continued her thoughts.
"We'd have to track down Boruto to have any chance of getting an iphone charger, I suppose. Do you think they could make me some sort of solar-charger? Just in case we get stuck somewhere really crazy?" Victoria had powered off her phone relatively early into their mountain trek yesterday just to make sure they would have the ability to call once they got in range. She had sneakily checked last night for any sign of a cell network and came up totally empty. For the first time in her life she considered that maybe shelling out for a satellite phone might have been a good investment...in the case that this was a serial-killer island and not Konoha.
"Hm, I highly doubt we'll get any chance for that," Samantha grunted, wondering how they were gonna spend their time without getting bored. Maybe flirting with Kakashi was their best bet. He seemed quite willing to flirt back. Suddenly, a bright idea flashed and Samantha sat up, "Oh! Dude, we should totally get, like, some notebooks and pens - do they have pens? Pencils maybe? Quills? - anyway, just in case this all turns out to be some," here, Samantha whispered, "serial killers elaborate scheme," Sam ignored Tori's look of 'what have we talked about earlier' and continued onward, "That way, there'll be some concrete proof of all our hardships."
"That's...actually a pretty good idea," Victoria agreed thoughtfully. "Then, if we ever get home, you can put it on fanfiction and make all the imaginary dollars." She giggled at herself. And when Sam gave her a dry look, she instantly countered with, "What? I'm hilarious."
Samantha nodded her head in acknowledgement with a smile, but replied, "If I did it for imaginary dollars, I could buy myself a unicorn, or an ipad!." Sitting cross-legged, Samantha drew circles on the floor, "If we want those notebooks… you're gonna have to be the one who asks. You're wa-ay more quick-witted than I am. You can handle all that…" Unable to find a word, Samantha made gestures with her hands to emphasize what she was meaning, "Kakashi-ness," She finally decided upon.
Victoria gave a very undignified snort. "You think I am better at handling his Royal Hotness? Girl, you cray."
"You're joking, right?" Samantha deadpanned, thinking about earlier with breakfast - which, they actually should probably go and eat. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized they were talking about Kakashi without knowing just where he was lurking in the house. She whipped her head to the door, scrutinizing the entrance.
Victoria's own gaze widened at the sudden look on Sam's face. She wasn't sure why she was freaking out, but maybe she had heard something? After a breathless moment, Kakashi's head poked out at a ninety-degree angle around the frame with his famous eye-smile. "Breakfast is ready."
Victoria's stupid cheeks flushed all stupidly bright totally giving away her stupid crush. "Morning, Kakashi-San," she mumbled.
"You don't have to be so formal, Tori-Chan," he assured. As he began to walk away from the doorway, Victoria slowly released the breath she was unconsciously holding, but then he dropped the second part of his sentence like a hammer: "You can just call me 'Your Royal Hotness.'"
Samantha's face went bright red. Though it wasn't she that Kakashi was quoting, he'd obviously overheard their conversation and could only stare at the now empty doorway, eyes wide in shock. She looked over at Tori, who looked as if she wanted to crawl into a hole. "Nothing's secret," Tori was muttering to herself, "Nothing's safe..."
Sam's eyes sparkled with amusement, before sighing and standing up. "Well, I guess we should go get something to eat!"
"I better get dressed really quick," Victoria said. Her bedhead was almost messy enough to give Kakashi's iconic hair a bit of competition. She was quick, though. With no makeup or toothbrush, the only thing that took awhile was figuring out how the fancy belt of her new outfit worked. Admittedly, she was secretly amazed and pleased that a) the clothes were actually big enough to fit her over-sized frame comfortably and b) actually looked kinda cute. She was quite pleased with her wardrobe upgrade. Sam's new clothes made her look like a kick-butt ninja, but Tori's made her feel a bit like a princess. It was a simple purple dress that she could slip right over her head, but the full skirt with its asymmetrical hem swirled and twirled and was way too much fun. Somehow, the universe had made sure that the skirt came with some black pantaloons that were nearly as comfortable as back home's yoga pants. There was even a sleeveless cardigan made of some light breezy fabric. It was perfect!
Hair tossed up more or less in a half-ponytail, the way-not-as-serious-as-an-almost-thirty-year-old-should-be-woman practically skipped into breakfast. She gave Sam a little twirl to show her outfit off. The night before she hadn't had the energy to crawl into the clean clothes after her shower and had made temporary pajamas from her leggings and under shirt. Clean clothes felt maaaarvelous!
Sam grinned, "Beautimous!" She placed her hands on her hips, "We look awesome! All set and ready for the world. Now, let's eat!" Marching off, Samantha and Victoria went to partake of the… interesting meal that Kakashi had prepared, Sammy choosing to not eat the pork, but filled her plate more full of the rice and sauce. Whatever sauce Kakashi had made, he'd done a good job. It was far more tasty than it looked.
It was very tasty, and they both made sure to say as much to their host at the end of the meal. "I'm not used to being so spoiled," Victoria quipped. She well understood the impact of praise and gratitude. It was why she playfully demanded it of her younger siblings whenever she cooked for them. "Thank you very much, Kakashi." He seemed to smile slightly behind his mask. He apparently had eaten before so the women had not gotten a chance to see his whole actual face.
"So, Kakashi." Samantha drawled near the end of their meal, "If you overheard our conversation, you know very well that we are looking for some notebooks."
He looked up from polishing his shurikens. "Are you going to write dirty stories in them?"
"Well, that wasn't the plan," Samantha smiled, raising an eyebrow but I'm sure we could come up with something including a certain silver-haired person she didn't dare say aloud, but she smirked all the same, "if anything, it could be entertaining for you," If you wanted to try to decipher English, that'd be entertaining.
"Why would it be entertaining?" He asked curiously. After all, it was clear that dirty stories would have been his preferred entertainment.
"I guess you'll have to wait and see, eh?" Sam smiled, cheekily.
Throwing caution to the wind - he had apparently overheard most of what they had said anyways - Victoria voiced another request. "Sam has always wanted to see what it's like when real shinobu fight each other," Tori declared. "Would there be any chance of that happening before we get to go home?"
Samantha's eyes lit up at the thought, turning her hopeful glance towards Kakashi. "I mean, I know it's a lot to ask… considering Might Guy's obvious suspicion of us…"
Victoria, ever the sneaky Hufflepuff saw right where Sam was going with this. Rising, she began to clear their dishes as a way to subconsciously encourage Kakashi to agree to their requests. "That's true," she said, her voice innocent, "And Might Guy is not just a jounin but a teacher too, so he must be pretty well informed about the importance of safety. We wouldn't want to get him in trouble by watching his students spar."
"That's a good point. Though, I don't know that he'd get in trouble so much as that he's intimidated," Samantha said with a droll look back towards Victoria. She did, however, get up and help with the dishes too. "I think he was worried he couldn't both over-see sparring and watch us."
"Oooh, I can see how that would be difficult for someone," Victoria mused.
Kakashi tucked away the last of his newly cleaned shurikens and stood. "Are you two trying to manipulate my decision by using my well-known rivalry with Might Guy against me?" He asked lightly. In the same breath he then answered himself, "Because it's quite effective. Let's go."
Samantha fist-pumped and ran for her shoes as Victoria's triumphant, evil giggle followed at her footsteps.
The training grounds were really quite a pleasant little square of parkland. There were trees, and nice grass..some lovely decorative boulders… Victoria was a personal fan of the boulders as they made an awesome viewing spot for the three of them. Crossing her legs tailor-style, she fluffed her skirt out around, grinning a little at feel of the soft fabric. She grinned happily at Samantha who was sitting right nearby and was practically quivering with excitement. Their warden, Kakashi was posed high above them both. His chosen boulder was a good fifteen feet tall, but directly backed the much more reasonable rocks Sam and Tori had found. There, he crouched, his sharp eyes easily seeing all that was going on across the wide, manicured fields.
"Okay, so you're gonna explain what all's going on for me, right?" Victoria said, wiggling her toes. As soon as they had been seated, she had happily removed her shoes. Sam might have loved socks, but Victoria felt the best, most happiest in a world where shoes weren't needed. Socks, like shoes, were just a necessary evil. "First, tell me again what the rankings are. First, they gotta go to the academy, right?"
"That's correct! They start off, I think, when they're around… seven… in the academy," Samantha stated quietly, eagerly filling Victoria's ears with 'Ninja Terms 101'. As she got to the point of explaining different types of styles, Tori paused her with a wiggly finger wave.
"Wait up, so you're saying that Rock Lee can't do any of the magic chakra ball stuff? What about the 'Poof! That's a log, I'm actually over here' thing?"
Samantha bit her lip, pausing. She had to think long and hard over that one; trying to relive watching the anime, racking her brain over any instance that Rock Lee might have used the substitution jutsu. Her mind came up blank. "As far as I can remember, he cannot. Rock Lee can still mold chakra, hence being able to climb walls and all that jazz, but he can't effectively use ninjutsu at all. Though… I know he can dispel genjutsu if he's ever caught in one - except the infi… erm… well, that last thing that happened in the anime where no one could get out of it… anyways." It was near the end of her speech that Sam realized that Kakashi could have been listening in on their conversation; after all, he was not shy about having done so before.
"It's amazing how you've studied so much about shinobi and their jutsus and stuff," Victoria tossed out there for the benefit of Kakashi's listening ears. "I really should know more about them, but there's just so few where we live." She gave Sam a tiny, reassuring wink. "Hopefully they will get here soon and then you can see what it's really like!"
Sam's eyes eagerly observed the training grounds while Tori spoke, looking forward to seeing the iconic taijutsu team. Watching them would be very informative; and Samantha knew that this was the 'tell all' moment that would either break her denial or further confirm Tori's insisstance. If Neji were to use his byakugan, or Tenten were to pull out a scroll and poof into existence tons of weapons from out of nowhere… it would be hard to say "hey, yeah, this is all fake, ya know! We aren't actually in Konoha". And the prospects of them actually being in Konoha… well… Samantha felt a giddy nervousness at the thought. Giddy because, well,, who wouldn't want to see their favorite character's in action? It was only the reasons for why they were actually able to see their favorite character's in action in person that gave Sam anxiety. To this thought, Sam rubbed her hands against her legs, feeling her palms clam up. Whatever the reason they were here, she would not give up the opportunity to enjoy the atmosphere of Konoha.
"Oh! I think I see them coming!" Sam quietly proclaimed, pointing a finger in the direction she could see the tricklings of the team's appearance.
It was very easy to spot the tall, broad form of Might Guy, but it was a bit longer before Victoria and her slightly out of focus glasses to spot the three junior ninjas that orbited around his muscled girth. The skinny one, she knew: it was Rock Lee! Then there was a rather sulky looking kid dressed in white. With the long black hair, it was hard to be sure, but Tori had the feeling that the genin was a boy. Girls just tended to wear the 'disgruntled with the world' look a little more elegantly. The third character was, in her mind, rather adorable and reminded her of that one girl from CardCaptors. It was probably the little buns. Victoria leaned near to Sam and pointed her out. "I bet she's the most boss of them all," she declared with a grin. "Bunheads are the best."
"Hah!" Sam snorted, "If you say so." She winked as they watched the team come to attention in front of Might Guy. They couldn't hear anything from their position off the field, but from the looks on each students faces, it was quite obvious the man was being his flowery self. "I'm just looking forward to seeing them fight! I bet they're all awesome. It amazes me sometimes how talented and hard-working ninja kids can be. Seriously, to become experts would be super tiring." Samantha turned her head towards Tori, keeping her eyes trained on the team, "Who do you think is gonna spar, first?"
"I dunno," she admitted honestly, shrugging away the question. "So..how old are these kids? Like..thirteen? Fourteen?" At Sam's correction that they were thirteen, Victoria grimaced a little. "That's the same age as Kallie," she murmured, naming one of her little siblings. It was a little unfathomable. Kallie could barely be prodded into putting her laundry away. Tori couldn't even imagine her running in gym class, much less training all day. She shook her head incredulously. "It's just insane. But..kind of a little cool. Granted, I want to beat the face of whoever came up with the plan that such little peoples could be expected to risk their lives in battle, but way cool that they have like, purpose, and goals and stuff."
"Whoa, dude, it's weird when you put it into perspective like that." Samantha said, thinking of Tori's siblings. Sam had siblings, but her youngest sister was officially in her twenties now. Tori had a larger family, with some whose ages matched up with the anime characters. Or… real life people… "It's kinda sad that they have more purpose in their life than I've ever had. At least… by way of reaching their goals. There'll all so tiny! I wanna pinch their cheeks." Samantha made the motions of pinching cheeks, snickering.
Victoria laughed brightly. "But also, that's how old we were when we met! So, maybe those guys will be friends for life too." She leaned over to bump their shoulders together playfully. A fresh breeze blew past, stirring their hair and making the whole moment feel like it would be a perfect time to have a Hayao Miyazaki soundtrack start to play. "Oo! Look, the grumpy kid and Rock Lee are gonna fight!"
Sam's eyes whipped back to the fight, her grin growing into awe and excitement. "I can't believe we're gonna watch this. It almost feels like the Hunger Games. Ne?" Because setting children out to fight with the intent of winning was the exact premise of that book. The only difference was that these tiny ninja were making it their lifestyle. Like, joining the military. From a young age. 'Cause that wasn't weird or anything. Sam laughed at her thought as Lee and Neji began their first strike. Perhaps it was the intensity of the fighting, but their voices resonated loudly enough for the wind to carry the sound to Tori and Sam's eager ears.
"This time!" Rock Lee cried out, "This time I will defeat you, Neji!"
"If you think you can beat me, Lee, think again. You've got no chance!"
Neji moved into his Hyūga stance, left arm up in a "come get me" position, right arm held near his person, legs bent and spread enough for balance. This is it Samantha's heart beat wildly as she watched the two. This will determine the reality of Konoha's existence. And it really would. No one could fake the byakugan, right? Then, within a split second, the cry of "Byakugan!" came from the young ninja's lips, and his eyes, just as they had in the anime, sprang with veins. Samantha, for all her denial, could no longer say this world was fake. Could no longer try and tell herself that she could just go home if she really wanted to. The thought was terrifying. Except, her heart beat quicker with the realization. This was real. This was…. This was really Konoha! Sam could hardly move as the fighting in front of them commenced.
Neji blocked Rock Lee's kick with his right arm. Both their faces pinched in concentration. At least… that was what they could see with the few brief moments. Samantha watched in amazement. Seeing them fight on T.V. was one thing, but to see it in person? It was like that moment in the Boruto movie when Hinata saw Boruto place the Konoha headband on his head and her hair whipped back as she saw Naruto - as he had been - where Boruto stood. Sam's heart skipped a beat just seeing them fight.
Rock Lee moved so quickly, it was as if he was a race car. Even more impressive was the fact that Neji blocked every single kick and punch, as if it was easy for him. Though, the closer that Samantha looked, she could see Neji's clenched face. At least he was doing some exerting, right? It was good for the boy who so often felt he was above the crowd. Like the most popular girl in a sorority. Still, hopefully the time would be soon when the boy fought Naruto and had his perspective change. It would be good for the kid. He was much cooler that way.
Neji went in for a strike, aiming for Rock Lee's chest, and the green clad boy flipped backwards, avoiding the movement with lighting speed. They had moved only a few paces from where they stood originally, both boys huffing. Lee more than Neji. Suddenly, with quick movements, Neji bolted forward and struck Lee in the right shoulder, and Samantha, Tori, and their silver-haired guardian watched on as the boy flew backwards, landing hard on the ground and sliding at least a foot. It was simple to see this was the end of the match.
Letting out a breath that Samantha didn't know she was holding, she sat back on her haunches, not even realizing she had scooted forward to "get a closer look".
"That was…. That was amazing!" she said, her voice light.
Victoria looked a little horrified. "We have such different ideas of what that word means," Tori choked. "Where are their parents? Those kids could have killed each other! They could have killed each other!" She turned and gestured widely at the field. "Who's idea was this?"
They heard an odd sound come from above, and they both looked up, but Kakashi's well-masked face didn't betray if it was a laugh or a scoff that he had just uttered. He then silently pointed back out to the genin and their sensei. It was then that they noticed the Hyuuga boy looking in their direction. Sam's eyes widened as she realized he knew, and had probably known since the beginning of his fight, that they had an audience.
Victoria, ever the skilful people person gave a little wave and laughed awkwardly. "I'm sure Might Guy loves this.." she joked.
"He'll be happy to see some 'youthful faces' taking in the action, right?" Sam supplied as well. She watched as Might Guy marched his way towards them, taking his whole persona in with a new light. She blinked up at Kakashi once more, smiling back at his eye smile, before glancing forward again to see Might Guy closing in on them with his team following suit.
"Kakashi!" spewed the man, "What in the world are you doing here!" His demanding tone insinuated anger, but his eyes shown with what could only be described as jealous admiration. It was fascinating to see the look in real life.
Sam and Victoria both jumped as Kakashi suddenly dropped straight down to land on the ground just in front of their boulder. The silver haired jounin tossed his head just slightly, sending his flyaway locks to greater heights. He gave a two fingered wave at Might Guy's students. "Enjoying the fine weather. It's a lovely day, isn't it?"
Might Guy's eyes flared, "Who cares about the weather! What are you doing bringing these two here?" His hand gestured towards the two girls, keeping his eyes trained on his fellow jounin. The three genin stood behind their sensei, Lee waving enthusiastically at Sam and Tori, Tenten looking confused as she noticed her teammates obvious knowledge of them, and Neji, who had a permanent scowl on his face, arms folded across his chest.
Kakashi gave an elegant shrug, nothing at all in his stance gave way in the face of Might Guy's displeasure. It gave an air of silent cockiness that was a million times more effective than the shouting or the scowling of Team Guy's approach. It was also unfairly attractive, if you asked Tori. "You mean my lovely house guests? They wanted some sunshine and this beautiful, public park seemed like an excellent choice. We couldn't have anticipated the show." He gave a small wave at Neji and Rock Lee to indicate their role in the entertainment. Never mind that the exact spot at the furthest end of said park was almost always exclusively used by jounin to train their young teammates. It was, technically, totally acceptable for Kakashi to have brought them there….not that he would have been stopped by a little town zoning from doing whatever he really wanted to.
The exasperation seemed to exhume from the mighty Green Beast as he huffed before replying, "You knew very well that my team would be training just on the other side, Kakashi." Might Guy barked with grudging admiration, "Who knows what spy information they might have gathered. It is not wise to share the strength of our ninja!" By this point, Might Guy's whole body had gone from stalk straight, to frustrated fist clenching. One fist directed solely in front of Kakashi's face.
The former black ops member's expression seemed to silently warn the danger that would answer an outright threat to him. At seeming odds was the bright smile curving through the soft fabric of his mask. "The boundary of your training grounds are right here," he said with excessive cheerfulness as he gestured from one side of Might Guy to just behind Tenten like a helpful stewardess. "You may want to know since we do have visiting spies in Konoha. Aren't you glad we were here to inform you, old friend?" His flippancy seemed to play at Might Guy's indignation.
Victoria leaned over to grip Sam's hand. She was getting kind of nervous from all the pointy-eyed looks going on. The way Kakashi-San acted: playing at the other jounin's temper, reminded her of how he span the razor-sharp shurikens as though they were harmless fidget-spinners. Maybe this guy just likes to flirt with death? I will never understand adrenaline junkies!
Samantha squeezed Tori's hand with what was hopefully a comforting assurance that whatever happened, they were in it together. But she was unable to glance away from the scene in front of her. Kakashi was such a tease, taunting his fellow ninja with such a flippant attitude. It was curious that the man wasn't as worried about their spy status as Might Guy seemed to be, but the thought was so fleeting, she forgot she'd had it a second later as the events played out before them.
It was incredible to see how, when the jounin wasn't trying, Might Guy revealed a lot through his expression. The predictable "Kakashi is just so cool!" was evident on the man's face, and Samantha would have snickered to herself had the situation not had a tense atmosphere about it.
"Who cares if they watch, Sensei. If they want to try and defeat our forces, let them. They'll soon come to regret their decision." The obvious 'mightier than thou' attitude of Neji Hyūga spoke above the competitive air the two sensei had adopted, his eyes calculating as he observed Samantha and Victoria.
Might Guy whipped around, pointing what could have been an accusing finger towards his arrogant student, "It is of good practice, Neji, to assume that if an enemy knows your strengths, he will find your weakness and defeat you. This is why we cannot condone the audience of spies in our midst!" He'd directed his last statement towards Kakashi, eyes narrowed.
"Your sensei is right about the first," Kakashi told the younger shinobis. He then jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the two women. "But these two, with the exception of their singing voices, are harmless." He gave Might Guy a small shrug. "They are friends of an old friend. And, quite honestly, pretty clueless. They'd make terrible spies even if they tried."
Neji folded his arms, as if in slight protest to the sensei, glaring at the two girls. As for Samantha: at Kakashi's proclamation, her heart skipped a beat, a miniscule gasp escaping her lips as her eyes widened a smidgen. Even if him calling them clueless made Sam want to protest, it brought back the conversation that was had because of her, albeit friggin' awesome hat. She'd forgotten the lie she'd proclaimed earlier about her hat that had the Konoha symbol tacked onto it that was based off the Konoha forehead protector. It satisfied her otaku needs in her world, but it must've seemed like blasphemy to the ninja here. Especially with her newfound knowledge that they were not pretending to be who they were.
Then, to have Kakashi further their lie, taking it on himself, it almost seemed as if he knew exactly who Tobi was. If the man ever inquired about this "friend" of theirs, Samantha wasn't sure what she would do. There was no way she could let him find out about the man before it was time. Who knew what consequences that would make! Let alone including Victoria in on who Tobi was. For all Tori knew, Tobi was someone she had made up. Which, she hadn't. Still, Sam's stomach twisted in anxiety as she waited for the staring contest the two jounin had, to end.
Finally, after what felt like hours to Samantha, Might Guy eased into a relaxed stance, nodding slightly in resigned acceptance. "Alright. If you feel you can trust these two, then I shall do the same." Might Guy's countenance did a complete one-eighty, smiling brightly at both women. "Let me be the next to say, welcome to Konoha!" He extended his hand towards them, and Samantha shook it, blinking in surprise. Neji 'hmphed' while Tenten smiled brightly and Rock Lee jumped what could have been a foot in the air,
"It's nice to meet you!" Tenten took a small step forward, "My name's Tenten. Don't mind these guys in green, they can be a little overbearing sometimes,"
Victoria jumped down off their boulder and handshakes were exchanged with smiles. "Hey Girl," she smiled at the intrepid female warrior. "I love your hair. What kind of fighting do you do?" Her inner girl-Scout-leader instantly loved Tenten. She gave Rock Lee a high five as silent acknowledgment of his awesome work.
"My specialty is weapons!" Tenten stated, proudly.
"She is the best of the best!" Rock Lee chimed in, standing excitedly next to Tenten, "No one can beat her at her precision with weapons." His obvious gushing about his teammate was endearing, and Samantha instantly liked the young ninja far more than she had ever had in the manga or anime. It was interesting how meeting a character could change your personal opinion of them.
"That's so awesome!" Samantha exclaimed as she looked at Tori, conveying her excitement through her shining eyes. It was just too bad that Tori couldn't appreciate this in the same way Sam could! It dawned on Samantha as they exchanged pleasantries, that Tori's attraction to Kakashi didn't have to be a one way street - Because o-oh, the man was hot! - and she smiled mischievously at Tori.
Tori and Sam were instantly inundated by the young genin's enthusiastic responses to their praise and questions. Even the sulky Neji was pulled in by Sam's cheering of his byakugan. In the middle of Tenten and Rock Lee's eager recounting of a mission they had gone on earlier that month, Victoria uneasily felt eyes boring at her. Looking up over Neji's shoulder, she saw Might Guy and Kakashi in deep conversation. She lightly nudged Sam's side and flicked a quick glance over at the two men. True, it seemed that they were possibly in the clear, but it still seemed like the uneasy trust they had been granted would be tenuous at best. They really needed to be careful, but maybe now that Sam believed, it would be easier to unite behind a plan. Somehow, they had to figure out who had sent them here and how they could possibly get home.
With the evidence that Konoha was real, and that they had actually been placed in a different dimension, Samantha felt giddy trepidation. On one had, they were in Konoha. They actually got to meet the legendary Copy-Cat ninja, Kakashi! It meant that not only was this ninja a super genius, but that he had fully taken upon himself to cater to the two women without any regards for who they really were. It still bothered her a little that the man seemed to have no qualms about traipsing around the village, sightseeing all the local shops and entertainment. Well, only a little really, as the man had a calculating eye. Being a super genius must have done something to make him question their appearance in his village. Right?
They were currently sitting at a booth in a barbeque restaurant, courtesy of Kakashi, joined by Team Guy, when Samantha made to move from her seat. "Excuse me, I need to… powder my nose." With a glance at Tori, Samantha gestured with her eyes for her friend to follow, wanting to talk about the happenings in Konoha in private. Since there were ears everywhere they went, the bathroom in a public area seemed the safest place to chat. Hopefully it wasn't a one person bathroom.
Upon finding successfully that the bathroom was made for multiple people to use, Samantha waited for the door to shut behind Victoria. Double checking that no one else was in the bathroom, Sam spun quickly on her heels, bursting with thoughts.
"Tori!" Sam proclaimed, "Konoha is real!"
"I know," Victoria said with a little bit of a smirk. "I tried to tell you yesterday." She tossed her hair over one shoulder, playfully preening. "It's like..I'm the true believer. How ever will you forgive yourself for wasting your first meet and greet with the real flesh Naruto by thinking he was some crazy child actor?" She tsked her friend's lack of insight.
"Pfft, just because I was skeptical at first does not mean that I'm not a true believer." Samantha protested, "Besides. It was perfectly logical to think that this place couldn't have been real. I mean.. I've read and watched Naruto more times than I can count! For it to suddenly become real..." Then, she registered what Tori had said, "That was actually Naruto we met! That means… that means that the entire village hates Naruto." A pang shot through her heart, "I feel like we should do something about that! Wait… has Kakashi already become their jounin sensei? Mm, probably not since he's not mentioned having his own team to train… what was it the Hokage had mentioned to Kakashi before?" She'd mumbled half her sentence, before turning to Victoria for the last question.
Victoria watched her friend and felt just a little triumphant as someone on the other side of the epiphany. But then she had to think for a second as to what Hokage and His Royal Hotness had talked about. "He said he was going to spend the week reading. And..something else. I don't know, I was kind of distracted by his hair." Crinkling her nose, Victoria turned to check out her appearance in the bathroom mirrors. "Oi. Look at my hair!" She began to finger-comb it as fast as she could. "But he for sure said something about next week, so I think he must be waiting on something. Wait, it's graduation, doesn't that mean Naruto and Sasuke and them are gonna be a team now?"
"Graduation?" Samantha repeated, "Oh my goodness! I had completely forgotten that they were talking about that! Which means that they'll be a team next week.. Wait! That also means that the crucial time when Naruto comes to find out that someone actually cares about him happens! With Iruka. And.. and that douchebag Mizuki cons him into stealing the forbidden scroll…" As Sam began to think, she'd begun to rub her chin, and biting her thumb, her brow furrowed. She swivelled her glance back at Tori, pushing her pale blue hair behind her ear, "Do you know what this means?"
"You know which episode we're on?" Victoria guessed. She began to swiftly braid her hair into an Elsa-like plait. It was the only hope until she found a real brush. "And...something really cool is about to happen?"
"Well, actually, we've come to a time before the anime actually starts, but! That's not what I was gonna say," She placed her hands on Tori's shoulders, "we could totally mess things up if we're not careful."
"Maybe we already have," Victoria pointed out. "If we're before things start.." She raised an eyebrow at Sam's closeness. "Any change to a timeline can change everything, Sam-Sam. That's why I hate time-travel stories. They either ignore that or play with it way too much."
"Nah, I highly doubt we've changed anything… I mean… we've hardly interacted with Naruto, and we haven't even seen Sasuke or Sakura. And we know very little about who Kakashi knows, apart from the main themes that were introduced in the manga. But there's so much of his life that's left unsaid." Sam let out a breath, leaning against the sink in the bathroom. It was surprisingly clean, despite the hint that it could or should have been otherwise.
Victoria twisted the ponytail holder around the end of her braid, praying that it would never be lost and live a very long and useful life. "Well..unless guard duty of us means that Kakashi doesn't get assigned as the troublesome trio's sensei," she couldn't help pointing out. "Imagine if they got stuck with someone else. Like..I dunno, one of the bug people." She didn't know enough of the older generation to identify anyone by name beyond Might Guy.
The idea of changing which genin team Kakashi received disturbed Sam, "Hmm," She replied, thinking hard on their meeting with the Third Hokage and Kakashi, "I doubt we'd change it that much. I mean… we can't… if we do… I can't promise I won't protest to the Third Hokage… I mean… this team is super important! Not only for Naruto but also for Kakashi! And Sakura, even. I mean… I doubt Sakura would have even petitioned Tsunade to become a medic nin if not for all the events that happened with Naruto and Sasuke…"
"Whoa, whoa, bad idea, Sam-Sam," Victoria said, raising both hands in warning. "Think of Lost in Austen. If you spend all your energy trying to force the storyline, everything will go to crap! The best thing to do is just try to let things play out but don't stand in the way of anything...unless it's obvious that something small is supposed to happen because of us. Like Hermione and the Time-Turner. We gotta avoid interaction with the original timeline as much as possible, otherwise we might ruin everything!"
"Yeah, but if Kakashi never gets his team, that's a major change!" Samantha determined fiercely, "We can't let that happen..." She turned towards Tori once more, "There's no way that this is going to be like those fanfictions I've read…. Where we follow the whole cast of Naruto and are along for the ride kinda thing… I wonder why we're here. What could be the purpose."
"Maybe the universe just decided that we had worked hard enough at real life and deserved a bit of fan service?" Victoria gave a "that could be it, right?" grimace and then laughed to herself. "But, no, you're right. Everything happens for a reason. We just need to figure it out. In the meantime, I really do gotta pee..but then we should get back out there. Don't want them getting suspicious again! Might Guy is kinda scary when he thinks you're an enemy of Konoha.."
Samantha snorted, "Fan service, hah! Wouldn't that be fun?" She ran a hand through her hair, "Might Guy is a big ol' softie on the inside, though. Anyway, I didn't actually have to go," she confessed, "So you go on ahead, I'll meet ya out there."
"Don't steal anyone's heart while I'm gone," Victoria quipped. "Or give away future plot points!" She stuck out her tongue just for good measure. Samantha responded in kind, before leaving the bathroom.
When Samantha got back out to the table, she was a little bugged to see that her chair had a new occupant: a large, slightly dirty combat boot was planted firmly on the place where she was meant to sit. The boot was attached to a man - a shinobi, based off his clothing - who was confidently leaning back and bragging. Sam couldn't actually hear what he was saying yet, but the tossed back shoulders and sneering face practically screamed that he was probably boasting about something or other. She noticed with amusement that every single one of their lunch companions looked bored out of their minds by whatever was being said. After a second, she figured out who the ungentlemanly guy must be. The shoulder-length gray hair… bandana wrapped around his forehead… Sam was startled to realize it was that douchebag Mizuki!
"Excuse me," She said, voice a little harder than she meant it to be, "Your boot is in my seat," All occupants at the table looked between Sam and Mizuki, and Samantha had to hold herself still as the silver-haired shinobi - not to be mistaken for the suave Kakashi - looked her up and down, a smirk on his face.
"My apologies, milady," he said, sweeping her a small bow that Sam didn't believe in the slightest. The dude then pulled out her chair and gestured to it as though he were bestowing a great favor for her by pulling it out from the table. His fine manners might have worked on other people, but Sam knew full well that this dude was going to manipulate poor little Naruto! She wanted to exploit his character to all who sat at the table. Punch him in the face for all his fake attitude. But without actually having any evidence to back up her feelings, all Sam could do was bite the inside of her cheek. She gave one last, attempted non-glare, at Mizuki, before taking her seat back, sliding herself forwards without the man's help.
Mizuki didn't seem bothered by her ignoring him. He leaned so that his hand braced against the back of Samantha's chair, and continued his speaking. "But, yes, the final exams are going quite well. We only have a few more to complete tomorrow and then we'll have a whole batch of young genin to introduce to the whole village. Will you be attending the ceremonies, Might Guy? Kakashi?"
Samantha leaned away from the back of the chair, uncomfortable with the man's close proximity, as Might Guy responded, "Well, Mizuki-San, it would be rather unusual for me to attend a graduation ceremony as I've already got my genin team." His 'why are you even asking me a pointless question' tone was blatant to all those around.
Mizuki elegantly tossed his hand out as though collecting their praise as he declared, "I, of course, along with the other Graduation Board members, will attend. It's a very important moment in our village's history, after all." Samantha rolled her eyes at his boasting.
Rock Lee tilted his head to one side. His large, black eyes caught Samantha's and he widened them further at her. Embarrassed at being caught, Sam innocently looked back, as if she hadn't rolled her eyes in the first place. Rock Lee's expressive eyes gleamed knowingly. Setting his elbows on the table, he leaned his chin in both hands and blinked up at Mizuki as though fully fascinated by what he was blathering about.
For the first time, Samantha wondered if Rock Lee (broccoli? She mentally snickered to herself) was more intelligent than he was made out to be. If so, how much did he actually understand her reactions? Not to mention, if Rock Lee could deem how she was feeling, then it must be quite obvious to the older jounin. Sam looked at Neji and Tenten, relieved to find that their attention was heretofore not on her. Mizuki's lack of respect for personal space as he boasted on about himself disgusted her and Sam wished she could elbow him in the nards to get him to back off.
It was at about that same time that Victoria flounced back to their table. She had to twist her wide hips sideways to scoot down the narrow path between their table and the neighboring one. "Oh, excuse me," she said to the man who stood just behind Sam's chair. She totally didn't notice the weird tension at the table, nor did she see the way that Mizuki seemed to also size her up and down and then the utterly dismissive look away. She didn't see, but Sam did, tensing, and also saw the way their warden suddenly leaned forward. His gloved finger pointedly tapped the table in front of him.
"Mizuki-San, I think you should probably get back to those duties," Kakashi said, "They sound very important."
"Oh, yes, they are!" Mizuki declared, straightening his back and still not moving away from his chosen spot over Samantha's shoulder. "Why I have to -"
"Then we really shouldn't keep you," Kakashi said with a declarative flatness that soon had Mizuki stumbling away.
Taking her seat, and noticing now the weird tension, Tori leaned over to Sam to murmur, "Who was that?"
"I'll tell ya later," Samantha replied, a part of her wishing she could take a bath. The man left her with an icky feeling, something Sam had not expected to get in Konoha. Perhaps it had to do with getting used to the fact that this was a real world in the first place, but dealing with nasty dudes was not a situation Samantha thought she'd end up dealing with. Apparently there were the creepers everywhere. That was definitely naive of her to have thought otherwise. She shuddered.
Victoria and Samantha were not at all sure just how it was that they ended up where they were. Mentally retracing the afternoon, they had finished lunch, spent some more time chatting with Team Guy, and then gone shopping for incidentals like hair brushes and more socks. (Sam loved shopping for socks.) Then they had stopped past a bookstore. Victoria had finally admitted to Kakashi that they couldn't read the hiragana here. She declared honestly that their home had a completely different writing style. He nodded sagely and then bought them their notebooks and pencils before loading up both his arms with new novels of his own. Noticing the photos on some of the paperbacks, Victoria blushed to high heaven. Sam teased her horribly about it as Kakashi gleefully checked out. They had only been at home for a few minutes before Kakashi suddenly swept them back outside. Then they found themselves...here.
"It's...kabuki, I think," Victoria whispered, leaning close to Samantha as the crowded theater around them eagerly chattered, discussing what they could see of the stage. "I mean, probably not quite the same as back home, but with the musicians and the different levels..Oh, but maybe it will be bunraku!" She brightened up eagerly at the thought. "That would be so awesome!" As a former theater major, Tori could think of nothing cooler than seeing the nearly life-sized puppets that took two or even four puppeteers to manipulate. She waved her hands in excited little circles as a tall couple scooted down the row of seats in front of them.
"So… what's kabu- whatever it is you'd said? And the other one that starts with 'bun'?" Samantha asked, her eyes marveling at the awesome theater costuming that even the building itself held.
Victoria smirked. "Oh wait, you mean now I'm the one who knows all the fancy vocabulary?" The redhead teased. "Kabuki is a theater using large masks or face paint. It's usually got lots of gods or heroes in it. It's kinda like commedia, but from Japan...but, now that I look at the stage, I think it's going to be bunraku! Bunraku is puppet theater, but the puppets are huge, like three or four feet tall, and the puppeteers walk them around the stage. Funnily enough, the puppeteers wear all black and they are where the idea of ninjas always wearing all black comes from! Hey, I know something about ninjas you didn't know!" She grinned triumphantly at Samantha.
"Yeah, yeah, rub it in," Sam stuck out a tongue, "But that sounds super interesting! You'll have to tell me which one this ends up being. Er… well I guess it'd be easy to figure out if they end up using puppets…" She laughed at herself, "I had no idea that Konoha had stuff like this here… I guess because all we see are the Ninja's side of things, what the common folk do is a complete mystery."
Tori tilted her head slightly. "I wonder what else they do," she mused, "I mean, there are such weird gaps in technology. Like, they have electricity, but I haven't seen any cars. And they have mass-produced print, but no tvs or home telephones." She stared thoughtfully out at the crowd. "But I saw photographs, so they have cameras. I wonder if they've created movie cameras yet. Or even just animation. If not, I'm so showing them a zoetrope so that by the time little Boruto's born they can actually have movies."
"Well, I don't think you need to worry about that, they've got all that stuff by the time Boruto arrives. It's beyond me how that's even possible, but hey, anime is anime I suppose." Sam shrugged, turning her attention on Kakashi, who seemed to be conveniently reading his newly purchased book. "Are you going to be reading, even during the play?"
He looked to Samantha. "Oh, would you like me to share?" He asked innocently. "I'm sorry, I should have offered earlier. They are just getting to the good part. 'Natsume gently parted the folds of Riko's kimono with the same tenderness as the autumnal winds strip bear the mighty oak tree, leaving her pale, round- '"
"Nope! Nope, I'm okay." Samantha sputtered, her face heating at the audacity the man had of even reading the book out loud in such a public place. She turned towards Tori, "Remind me never to ask about his books, again. I'm pretty sure this is the second time he's done this."
"At least it sounds like he has good taste," Victoria pointed out. "That was a very nice metaphor." Samantha's eyebrows rose to Victoria's admittance, "I mean.." she blushed a little. "Not that I want to read the rest. You know I left that life behind.."
Samantha couldn't help the smile trying to find its way on her face, "Uh huh," she teased, "If you say so," She winked and stuck out her tongue. She couldn't help it, Victoria was far too cheeky.
Still flushed, Victoria narrowed her eyes back at the likewise-cheeky Sam. "I do," she said pertly. "I keep my love stories rated PG, now, thank you very much. …...Maybe PG-13 some days..."
"Heh, I guess I have been known to see some rated R shows…" Samantha turned forward innocently, the lights in the theater dimming to announce the beginning of the play starting. "Shh! It's starting," She said to Tori, a finger on her lips to say 'no talking'.
"Shh! You're a punk!" Tori countered, but she eagerly settled in to watch the play.
"Hah, you wish," Samantha muttered, keeping her eyes straight.
"Keep it down, Samantha-Chan. I'm trying to read. You too, Tori-Chan."
Deleted Scene: Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Ninjas
"Man… I miss my Peds!" Samantha lamented, "They're the best brand." Her fingers stroked the socks on the sock pile in front of her, trying to decide which would fit her feet the best.
"These..kinda look like them?" Victoria said, offering a package of white socks with the fancy ribbing around the arches and ankles. "Sturdy, at least." She already had her selection: a stack of thin socks that covered only as high as the ankle. Sadly, they only came in shinobi blue. She had searched for socks with fancy patterns or pictures, but only the little kid, knee-highs came in anything but solid.
"Yeah.. but are they soft?" Sam wondered, as softness was an important factor when it came to socks. "If they're not soft, they're definitely not worth the buy."
Victoria turned and replaced the shunned, not-soft-enough socks. Spying a distinctive head of dark hair, she siddled down the aisle and then smirked. Sauntering back over to Sam's side, she poked her shoulder repeatedly until her friend finally looked up. "Who did you never ever think you would run into while buying socks?" she asked.
"Uuuh, I have no idea. No one, actually. I mean… who ever thought ninja went shopping in the first place?" Because really, when did any shonen manga show the ninja shopping of all things?
Tori tugged her down the aisle and then discreetly pointed between the gap in two displays. "It's Sasuke Uchi-whatever," she whispered. "Little white shorts and all." She giggled, just cuz the ridiculousness of it. Sasuke was supposed to be the cool kid of the anime and of all the places for them to spot him, the sock store was definitely the least interesting.
"No way!" Samantha giggled, watching the moody soon-to-be genin sift through socks, before deciding on the pair he wanted. She pouted, wishing she could find just the perfect pair herself. "Oh hey! I've got an idea!" With one swift movement, Samantha whipped out the marble she kept in her pocket at all times, clasping it between the palms of her hands in a prayer-like manner, closing her eyes tightly, "I wish for my socks from my sock drawer!" She desired, desperately.
After a long moment, Victoria leaned over and whispered. "Nothing's happening. I don't think the shiny ball works like that…"
Samantha peeked an eye open, shoulders sagging at the failed attempt, "It was worth a shot," She lamented once again, stuffing the marble in her pocket.
Tori laughed and gave Sam a quick hug. "And if it did..you were really gonna wish for socks? I'd go for Dr. Pepper! Or some Nutella!"
"Touché!" Sam laughed, "So! What do you think Sasuke would do if we had some socks suddenly cascading over him like a waterfall?"
"Probably cry about his clan or something," Tori mused. "Or just dramatically work it like when it starts raining in a k-pop music video." She laughed at herself then. "Oh man, in some way, we are such well-rounded nerds. ...Especially me!" Placing her hands over her belly she swayed ridiculously.
Samantha threw a pair of socks at Tori's head, "Oh, quiet, you!"
A/N: YAY! New Chapter! It's extra long, just for you wonderful readers, you. Not to mention... *drum roll* our amazing reviewers! mrenteria99 and Miss Nanami-Chan! Thank you for your support in reviewing! We would grovel at your feet, but we kinda need our hands to continue writing. So, we'll make due with sitting xD
Anyway! We hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and... duhn duuhn duuuuuuuh! you got to see that there is a plot afoot! mwahahaha *whispers like the pregnant lady in Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood* it's coming!
As always, we only own our character's and nothing else you see here. Let us know what you thought of the chapter by Reading and Reviewing! Also, if you favorite and/or follow us... that makes us super giddy, as well. :D