Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto in any way, shape, or form. I do own anyone you don't recognize from the series.
"blah" speaking
'blah' thoughts
Chapter 2: Lotuses and Fringed Pinks
With the assignment of teams done Shizuka dismissed his students for lunch with the message that afterward he would be introducing their Jounin-sensei to them. Kareha and Kei rose with everyone else and made their way toward the door, but once there Kareha suddenly turned back, 'Whoops, I almost forgot.' She hurried to the back of the crowd, catching a glimpse of Kei, who had turned around and stepped out of the moving students when Kareha had turned back, and was now giving her a quizzical look. "Ren," she mouthed to him, Kei could practically hear the of-course kind of tone, if she had been actually speaking, like he was supposed to know what she was doing. Kareha saw him heave what was probably an annoyed sigh before going to stand next to the door to wait for them. 'But, he really should have known,' Kareha told herself as she spotted Ren at the very back of the stream of students. A grin spread across her face as she moved toward the boy, "Ren, Ren! We're on the same team, so come eat lunch with me and Kei!" With that Kareha grabbed his hand before the shorter boy had a chance to accept or decline the offer, if she had even been offering and not demanding, pulling him toward where Kei was waiting.
"So he's going to be eating lunch with us?" Kei asked nodding in Ren's direction as he joined Kareha and the boy in leaving the class.
"Yep," chirped the redhead in reply, "I persuaded him."
Kei smirked, "You call that persuasion?"
"Mmhm! Forceful persuasion!"
"If you insist." He looked over his shoulder at Ren, who had his head bowed, but Kei could see that his ears were red.
"I do insist!" By this time the three had reached the bench Kei and Kareha usually ate lunch on, "Sit," she told Ren before sitting down between the boys. For a few minutes they ate their lunches in silence, Kareha looked between the boys as she waited for either to start talking, Kei looked as if he didn't mind the silence, though he never was one for talking unless he was picking on you. Ren, on the other hand, looked very uncomfortable sitting there with them, like he'd rather be hiding under a bed or in a closet, whichever was nearer. Kareha heaved a mental sigh when it became apparent neither was about to break the silence, 'Too bad for them, I don't like silence.' With that she turned to Ren and said with a smile, "So, is it Ren as in lotus?"
"Ah, yeah," Ren replied embarrassed, cheeks tingeing pink.
Kei snickered something about being named after a flower and, as if by reflex, Kareha's arm shot out, hand fisted, toward whatever part of Kei happened to get in the way of her fist. Unfortunately for the boy, it was his head. Ren jumped slightly at Kei's loud yelp as his head jerked sideways. Kareha smiled, satisfied, 'But I didn't think Ren would get embarrassed by it.' "You know, you shouldn't be embarrassed of you name," she told him, "haven't you heard the saying: what is soft is strong?"
They spent the rest of their lunch break talking, though it was more Kareha talking and Ren and Kei making noises of agreement, or throwing in a small comment here and there.
"Wonder what our sensei is going to be like? Hopefully someone cool," Kei mused aloud as the three headed back to class. When they arrived, the first thing they noticed was a woman they had never seen before talking to Shizuka. She had steel colored eyes and black hair worn in an up-twist. By the look of her uniform, she was probably a Jounin. "Someone's eager," Kei whispered to the other two next to him.
Shizuka looked up at the three making their way to their seats, "Kei-kun, Ren-kun, Kareha-chan don't sit down." The three stopped in place and looked at their sensei, confused expressions on their faces, "This is your Jounin-sensei," he went on gesturing toward the new woman, who had turned to face them.
The woman now moved to stand before her new students. "So, you're team thirteen," she said while sizing them up, "well then, come with me." And without another word she turned toward the door and walked out.
Kareha, Ren, and Kei exchanged hesitant looks, not quite sure how to react. They looked back at the doorway only to find they'd been left behind, and hurried after their new sensei. They followed her to the edge of a small wooded area in the village where she stopped and sat on the large, protruding root of a nearby tree. Taking this as a sign for them to sit down too, Kareha, Kei, and Ren planted themselves on the ground in front of her. "Alright, so, my name is Ishida Nadeshiko and I, as you already know, will be your Jounin-sensei starting today. Now, let's start with you telling me a bit about yourselves."
"What do you wanna know?" Kareha asked.
"Huh? Well your name, for one, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, things like that," Nadeshiko answered. 'This girl looks familiar, but I can't figure out where I've seen her.' "And since you asked the question, you can go first."
"Eeeehhh? Well, okay, my name is Akiyama Kareha…"
Nadeshiko's eyes widened briefly before she composed herself again, 'Akiyama, so she's Isamu-sempai's little girl.'
"I like music, all kinds, star gazing, art, strawberry milk, training, and hanging out with my friends. I don't like needles," Kareha shuddered, as if the mere mention of needles was frightening. "My hobby is art, in general. My dream, well it's not really a dream because I will make it happen, is to make the Ryuujima clan acknowledge me."
Nadeshiko gestured toward Kei, "Alright, your turn."
"Name's Himura Kei. I like star gazing, quiet, reading, cooking, cats, and solving things like puzzles. I don't like octopus, squid, and messes. Hobby: um reading, I guess. My dream is, well, I want to be something great."
"Great?" Nadeshiko guestioned, "What do you mean by that?"
An excited sounding tone entered Kei's voice, "Well, like something people will remember forever, like the sanin or a hero or something."
"Interesting. Now, the short kid."
Ren's expression fell a little at the mention of his height problem but started speaking anyway, "My name is Nakamura Ren. I like pizza and um being outdoors and with friends. I don't like being called short," he shot Nadeshiko a look. "I don't really have a hobby and my dream is to be as great a medic-nin as Tsunade-sama."
Nadeshiko smiled, "Nakamura as in the Nakamura clan? They've made quite a few contributions to the medical field, right?"
Ren nodded, "Ah, yeah; we also own a number of greenhouses where we grow medicinal herbs and ingredients for medicines. And a pharmacy in the village, also."
"Interesting, so do you know any medical jutsu yet or have you not gotten that far in your training?"
"I know a few low level ones. My mom says my chakra reserves aren't large enough yet for higher level medical jutsu," Ren said with a little, proud kind of smile.
Kei and Kareha stared at Ren, impressed. With a grin spreading across her face, Kareha voiced what both were probably thinking, "Wow! You're amazing Ren! I heard it's hard to become a medic-nin, no wonder you had some of the best grades in class!"
Ren blushed, "I-it's not really that amazing. When I say low level, I mean really low level. Nothing that could save lives well maybe a fish's life, but not a person's."
Kareha disagreed, "But, still, still!"
Nadeshiko chuckled to herself as Kareha continued to gush and Ren continued to get redder. 'Ah, but back to business now.' "Alright! I have something I need to discuss with you," She said loudly to get her student's attention. At their silence she began, "Tomorrow you three will be taking the Genin exam—"
"Wait, what?" Kei interrupted, "We're already Genin. We took the exam a few days ago."
"No, what you took was a kind of preliminary exam to select the students who have the chance to become Genin. In the real exam only nine of the graduates will be chosen as Genin," said Nadeshiko in a very matter-of-fact way.
"Bu-but that's not fair! Why give us all our hitai-ate if only nine of us can actually become Genin? Isn't that a bit cruel?" Kareha cried in protest.
Nadeshiko's eyes narrowed, "Quiet," she snapped. "A shinobi must read underneath the underneath. You should know that." Kareha, Kei, Ren shrunk back a bit at their sensei's menacing expression. "Now, listen carefully because I'm only going to say this once. Tomorrow meet me at practice field five at 7:00 am, and bring you ninja equipment. If you're going to be late, don't bother showing up at all. Just consider yourself failed and head back to the Academy. That is all." Without another word Nadeshiko disappeared with a poof of smoke, leaving her stunned students behind. For a few minutes there was silence.
"She's not cool at all! She's the purest of evils," Kei complained.
Another chapter done! Please review. Next chapter will be the Genin exam. It's not going to be the bell test because using that wouldn't be very creative of me. Also, if you're wondering, the fringed pinks from the chapter title refer to Nadeshiko. The lotuses refer to Ren.
Oh yeah, and thank you for the reviews, Neko-Cat-Sama and Liteflame!
Anyway, see you next chapter!