Chapter One

Shikami tapped her finger in a steady staccato against her desk, blue eyes watching as one by one, her fellow graduates got sorted into their new genin teams. Though she'd never admit it, she was horribly frustrated. Every time Kiri-sensei ticked off the third student, Shi let out a long held breath. Her free hand fiddled with the ends of her hair, twirling lavender strands around one finger until the circulation was almost completely cut off, the cloth of her purple gloves threatening to split.

"Hyou Shikami."

Finally! Shi leapt to her feet, head held high. "Yes!"

"Unfortunately, there are no more graduates from this class…." Shikami sank back into her seat, hitting her head against the desk to vent some frustration. There were two other students whose names have yet to have been called; did they both fail? Visions of being the only genin without a squad played over and over in Shi's mind; how embarrassing! Why did Kiri-sensei have to humiliate her like that? Already the other squads, waiting for their jounin, were snickering behind their hands. "However…" Shi immediately perked up, looking up from her desk. "Because of your exemplary class scores… You'll be paired with an already-experienced squad missing a genin."

What was that supposed to mean? And again, why did Kiri-sensei have to put her on the spot?! Shi's face flamed red, as the other graduates gave her hostile glares from their little groups. An experienced squad? Then why were they missing a genin? Did their teammate… Die? Perhaps it would be best not to ask until she was in her group, away from her classmates.

Her dread only grew as, one by one, the new squads took off with their jounin. What would her teammates be like? Would they be boys? Ugh, she hated boys. They always made her feel uncomfortable and useless, even though she knew deep down she wasn't. Being boy-shy in a village where there was a 6-to-1 boy-to-girl ratio, was rather awkward. At least her jounin would be female, right? Right? Most of the jounin of the other squads were male, so that hopefully increased the odds of a female teacher.

The door slid open. Shikami, too distracted by her own fearful thoughts, didn't notice until someone was standing directly behind her.

"Hyou?"

Shi fell over, holding back a scream that instead escaped like a strangled squeak. That voice! It was a male! How horrible! Shi sat up, running her hands through her purple hair in a nervous gesture.

Unlike the shinobi of other hidden villages, all the ninja of almost every rank, wore the same uniform when on missions; an incredibly traditional shinobi outfit that fit close to the body without being constricting, handmade. No one but ANBU or high-ranked medical ninja deviated from the uniform, that Shi was aware of. The jounin holding out his hand to help her up from the floor was no exception; the hood with his hitai-ate sewn on was down, showing his face. He had two disfiguring scars, exactly mirroring each other; one on each side of his face, stretching from the corners of his mouth, to his temples. Thick black stitches stood out against his skin along the line of the old wounds; the effect was a rather creepy grimace permanently stuck on his face. His strange golden eyes didn't help, one hidden by his shaggy black hair.

Shikami shook her head and stood, refusing the hand. "Yes…?"

The jounin smiled, dropping his hand to his side. "I at least expected to be yelled at for startling you. You are Hyou Shikami, right?"

"Yes."

"Not very talkative, are you?" At Shi's blank stare, the jounin frowned. "Eh, just as well. Your teammates won't shut up. Another voice would be a pain. I'm your teacher, Kusamura Hebi. I hear you're quite talented for your age."

Shi nodded, but didn't respond. She never was very talkative, but being around men always made her uncomfortable, unless it was her father or uncle. Even cousins made her fidget in discomfort. Not that she didn't like them… She just didn't like being around them.

"Oi! Answer when I speak to you!" Hebi pinched Shi's cheek with his thumb and forefinger, tugging until tears came to her eyes. "Say 'Nice to meet you, Hebi-sensei sir' or 'Thank you very much, Hebi-sensei sir'!"

"Y-yes, Hebi-sensei sir!" Shi managed to gasp, rubbing her face when he relinquished his grip, her face red. Even her father didn't punish her like that! How mortifying. But instead of glaring, the jounin just laughed.

"Well, you can leave off the 'sir' for now. Come on, let's go round up your lazy-ass squad members."

"Y-yes, Hebi-sensei…"

Squad Nine, a team that had already been a squad for a few months, the other two members having been in the advanced class. However, their third member was badly injured during a mission with unexpected risk, and would be in the hospital recovering from a dangerous surgery. Shikami listened patiently as Hebi told her about the incident, feeling her fear grow yet refusing to let it show on her face; every so often Hebi would pause, staring off into the distance as though listening to something, soon changing the direction they were walking in. Shikami, absorbed in her own thoughts, barely noticed. Her teammates had already had a three-month head start. They'd already gotten the ridiculous chore-missions done and over with, and had already finished a number of C-rank missions. Already, already, already. Shi was doomed; a rookie like her would be harassed to no end.

The other two members of Squad Nine were Gakidou Kouhei and Gesshoku Enzaki. Once she heard their names, Shi nearly had a heart attack. Enzaki and Kouhei were the best of the advanced class, top marks in everything. Enzaki was a genius with fire- and earth-style ninjutsu, and Kouhei was unmatched with melee weaponry. Shikami's nerves were set on end; her knees shook as Hebi led her around town looking for her teammates, her face even more pale than usual. This was horrible! Why couldn't she get put in with another rookie team, with new genin who knew less about what they were doing than she did? Then she wouldn't feel so horrible.

After awhile, she felt a strong hand tug on her arm. Biting back a yelp, Shikami turned to find Hebi grabbing her upper arm. "Relax, Shi-chan. We'll all train together for awhile before we do any missions. Stop looking like you're going to faint… Or vomit. Not sure which would be worse."

"Y-yes Hebi-sensei…" Shi gulped, utterly mortified. She'd let that much of her fear show? Useless! The girl bit her tongue, clenching her hands until her nails bit into her palms. Training for awhile before any missions? Great. Not only was she a new rookie, she'd be keeping them back from their missions. Deadweight. "I'm sorry."

"What's that?!" Hebi gasped, his voice projecting so that many heads turned to look and stare. "You can apologize?! What other tricks do you do?"

Shikami, who by then was such a shade of red she could have been mistaken for the sun at twilight, started walking again. The temptation to respond with 'I can juggle' was just too great.

Both her new teammates were rather handsome; a fact she admitted only to herself, and only with extreme reluctance. Both of them were taller than she thought they'd be, at least a full 3 inches above her own meager height – boys her age were usually short like her. Enzaki had scarlet hair and astonishingly violet eyes, messy shoulder-length hair constantly falling into his face. A single green mark, shaped like a fang, curved up from his left eyelid to form a point an inch above his eyebrow. Kouhei was a polar opposite; black hair that looked purple in the sunlight where Hebi's looked blue, and hung to his waist, tied back from his face with a white ribbon. A curved purple mark lined the right side of his face, also fang-shaped like Enzaki's, with the point near his chin. Both wore their uniforms, hoods down; Shikami, who felt terribly out of place in her chi-pao dress, nervously tapped her fingers against her hips, a habit picked up from her father and uncle.

"A little lost kitty!" Enzaki sneered in his loud voice, reaching out to tap a finger against the red marks on Shikami's face. Her face turned just as red, and she fought a flinch. "Don't tell me this is our new teammate."

"She's going to break…" Kouhei murmured. His voice was hoarse and soft, almost quieter than Shi's own. On impulse, Shi's lip curled back, a low, warbling hiss escaping from between her teeth. Enzaki and Kouhei, stunned, only stared; their silence was broken by Hebi's loud laughter.

"So you do have other tricks!"

Hebi had to hold onto Shi's chi-pao as they walked towards the outskirts of town, keeping her from fleeing. Her plans to vanish and become a fugitive shinobi shattered before her eyes, and Shi simply allowed herself to be led onward.

"Don't the Hyou clan members all have animal familiars?" Enzaki yawned, clasping his hands behind his head. Shikami nodded, frowning a little. "So where's yours? Too weak to have a familiar? Or is it a snail and you're hiding it under that skirt of yours?" The boy grinned at his own cleverness. Shi resisted the urge to slap him.

"He's here." Hebi smiled, patting Shi on the shoulder. "He's been following us since we left the Academy." Shi gave a start. Tenmaru was there? She didn't even know he was following! The leopard cub had been told to stay at home, but apparently he was just as bad about following orders to stay behind as his human was. She sighed, rubbing her temples with her fingers and shaking her head. Hopeless, absolutely hopeless. "Do you want to wait for him, Shi-chan?" Shikami shook her head, tilting her chin upward to attempt to give herself a haughty expression.

"He's disobeying orders." She stated simply, marching forward. Her teammates spared a glance for one another.

"So she CAN talk…" Enzaki muttered. Kouhei merely shrugged.

"Alright, here we are!" Hebi had stopped them in a clearing on the edge of the jungle, looking rather proud of himself.

Tsumegakure no Sato, Village hidden amongst the Claws, was located in the center of a dead volcano. The cap had broken centuries before, allowing rain to reach the dry inner depths. A lake had formed, and with it, greenery. Over time, the few saplings and vines that rooted by the lake became a forest, then a dense jungle. The only way to reach the jungle in the first place, was to find a way through the labyrinth carved in the underside of the mountain; there were hundreds of entrances into the labyrinth from the outside of the jungle, but only four tunnels actually opened up into the center. All children at the Academy were taught a song that told them how to find their way in and out, though hardly anyone wanted to leave. The sun only hit the lake for a few hours each day, but despite the lack of daylight, Tsumegakure was a paradise thanks to the natural fortress of the mountain, and the bounty of both the lake and the jungle.

Just the same, the jungle still scared Shikami. She had horrible memories, of teeth and claws, red eyes and flashes of strange chakra… It was enough to set her teeth on edge, even if the details always escaped her. A shiver ran down her spine, and she hung back behind the two boys.

"What're we doin' here, Hebi-sensei?" Enzaki muttered, scratching his stomach.

"Do you really have to ask me that, Enzaki-kun?" Hebi smirked, patting his hand against a tree. "We're going to help Shi-chan start training!"

I don't have to do terms and phrases again, do I? Ask if you don't recognize something.

( Character pictures and whatnot will be posted under the Claws and Fangs forum, since my description of their uniforms, sucks some major orbs. Just check my profile, a link should be there.)