Last night's dinner had been crazy. Besides the common, rude comment from Ryozo, Eiko had enjoyed seeing her sister. The sun was beginning to rise and although she disliked it immensely, she forced herself out of the bed and began putting on clothes. "You're late." Ryozo spoke from the doorway. "What are you talking about?" She asked, pulling her oddly colored outfit on. After the proper lightweight slippers were on her feet she opened the curtain.
"It's daylight savings time, the normal sunrise at 6 was two hours ago." He tossed the staff to her. "Kuso…I'm late!" Without wasting time Eiko disappeared with a twirl of her stick.
"I am not late at all!" She announced in the room. Other genin looked at her oddly, including her own teammates and sensei who said in unison, "You're late." With a dramatic sigh and head hung low, Eiko walked forward. "Don't worry Ei-chan, it's only you're fifth time being late! No worries." Akako attempted to comfort her. In return she glared at the young genin. "Come on old man, I want a real mission!"
Eiko looked up to see Naruto on the floor pouting. "What's going on?" She asked. "Since you weren't here we decided to wait for you before picking out a mission." Nozomi-sensei explained. "Well let's get one before all the good C-ranked ones are picked!" Akako agreed immediately and hopped off to the Hokage. Why is she hopping?"Hey old man, got any good C-ranked missions for us?"
"Eiko…" Iruka sighed, Eiko had always been a bit random. Nobody knew which emotion she'd sprout out next. "You're just one lucky genin. We were about to give the last C-ranked mission to team 7 but you've arrived in time and you're more suited for it." Akako laughed and stuck her tongue out at Naruto, who in return did the same. "Hm…" Midori looked curiously at her friend, "Are you having second thoughts about a C-ranked mission, Eiko?" "None at all. However, Iruka-sensei, you should give that mission to Sasuke-kun and his team." Sasuke looked up now, surprised that she had said that. He chose to ignore the –kun.
"W-w-what?!" Iruka and Naruto both sputtered this. It was mostly Iruka seeing as how he'd known Eiko longer, but both were surprised to hear it. "We're going to complete this mission without failure! Believe it!" Naruto shouted in happiness. "Now wait just one minute," Nozomi stepped in, "I refuse to waste my time babysitting this team while they do some baby D-rank!"
A bat fluttered from behind the Hokage and landed on Eiko's shoulder. "That's okay sensei, you won't have to. Iruka-sensei can just let us do that B-rank he was saving for us." She grinned and Akako did too, "Yatta!" Midori seemed a bit excite too. Now Sakura seemed angry that Eiko's team got a better mission. "Good luck!" She said, as her and her teammates left to go do the mission.
A few weeks later Akako sat up in bed. Next to her Midori lied sleeping soundly on her mat. Hmm…She thought to herself, I haven't seen Eiko-chan in forever! 24 hours is forever, right?"I'll take Naru-chan with me then." And she set about getting dressed. Pulling on her normal red leather camisole and the matching skirt, she grabbed a piece of toast on her way out. She'd forgotten to leave Midori a note but failed to realize this until and reached Naruto's apartment. "Naru-chan! Naru-chan!" Akako called out while banging on the door.
"Nani?" A groggy Naruto opened the door, drool slipping down his mouth, and boxers still on. He blushed when he realized Akako was at the door. "Akako-chan?"
"Come on Naruto! Let's go see Eiko-chan, and you can bring Sasuke along!" She pulled him into his apartment and forced him to get dressed. Half an hour later they had also found Sasuke standing next to Sakura, and ended up dragging her along too. At the gate to the Banpaia compound Akako paused. "Why are we stopping?" Sakura asked. She still kept her eyes glued to the Uchiha. "I'm waiting for the gate to open, duh!" Akako swayed on her tippy toes. Finally the gate slowly creaked open.
The compound looked a little bit more dreary than usual. Branches hung over the walls surrounding the homes and only gave a little peak as to what to see. "Etsu-chan! Eiko-nee, Ryoi-nii! I'm home!" A large groan came from the first doorway the four saw once they entered the home. On the floor lied Ryoichi, tangled up in a mess of blankets. Etsu walked into the room carrying a tray with food, "Akako-nee, you're in time for breakfast. Onee-san just finished." She said in the soft voice of hers.
"Arigatou Etsu!" Flashing a peace sign she led the Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke into the kitchen where Eiko was setting the table. "Ohayo Naru-chan, Sasuke-kun, Sakura." The table was set for seven. Immediately Akako sat down and grabbed the nearest Western food she could find, bacon. Sakura sat down next to Akako and after the boys sat down Midori appeared at the doorway and took the sixth seat. The table was filled with chatter as everyone munched on food. "Is your sister going to eat with us?" Sakura asked Eiko.
The two members of team four cracked up, Midori just breaking the edge of a smile. "No that seat belongs to-" Akako was interrupted by a poof of smoke as her sensei appeared dressed in her robe. "I'll tell you, those missions are hell! Never am I pulling an all nighter with Kakashi after I get over a hangover and-" Nozomi stopped when she saw team seven sitting with her team. Quietly she sat down and began eating her rice. A minute later she pulled a bottle out of nowhere and tossed it to Eiko. Silently they gave a 'thank you' 'welcome' exchange. Popping the top off the bottle she gulped down half of the fresh red liquid before setting it down on the table.
Again the table erupted in talk as almost everyone joined in a conversation. Even Sasuke was talking to Midori. Eiko suspected it had something to do with fire or ice jutsu. Naruto broke out in laughter at the joke Akako had made and reached over blindly to get a drink. He slurped down the liquid and only realized he'd picked the wrong bottle a moment too late. "Bleh! Argh! That's disgusting!" He spit it out and sprayed it onto Sakura. In response she screamed and Akako continued to laugh. Dramatically Eiko said, "Noo!" Once Sakura had been changed into an extra robe, and the mess had been cleaned up everyone sat down in the living room.
"What was that?" Naruto still looked disgusted. It had a coppery taste and felt thick in his mouth-"It's blood." Eiko said, she looked a bit angry to him. "Perfectly good blood that you wasted." Team seven gave a grossed out look, but Sasuke just widened his eyes. "Moving onto more important matters." Nozomi came into the room and leaned against the wall, "It's that time again and this time you guys are going in." She left no room for objection.
"Yatta!" Akako exclaimed, she jumped up and down happily. "What time is it?" Sakura asked. "During these few months the Hidden Leaf village holds the chuunin exams. They are tests you take to see how good of a ninja you are and to test your skills as one. The one who comes out on top isn't always the best because they don't always show the right qualities." Midori explained. Nozomi walked over and sat down on the arm of the couch, "And this year my team will enter and become chuunin!"
"I suppose mine will have to join yours too." Kakashi walked into the room. Eiko averted her eyes, pretending to not have already noticed his presence long before anyone else. "Can I help you Kakashi?" Nozomi asked him. "We have another mission to do today but we'll probably be back before the exams next week."
The two had disappeared off in a poof of smoke by the time Etsu walked into the room. Following her was Ryoichi drinking a glass of the thick red liquid. She set down a plate with cups of tea. Everyone took a glass for themselves. Naruto looked curiously at his and even sniffed it until he decided it was harmless. "Ne, ne, ne Eiko-chan, we should fight them to see how good the rookie are!"
"I'd win Akako-chan, believe it!" Naruto argued back. "Nu-uh"
"Yeah-huh."
"Nu-uh."
"Yeah-huh."
"Nu-" The two fought until Sakura interrupted. "Shut it!" Akako giggled as Sakura glared at her teammate. "Let's do it then." Open mouthed, Sakura wordlessly nodded to what Sasuke had said. She felt surprised that he would agree. Inner Sakura: Cha! He'd win and kick their butts! "I like that spirit!" Eiko exclaimed. Her and Akako got up and began to drag Midori out the door, Naruto followed behind.
Eiko led them all outside excitedly to the small clearing in the Banpaia compound. Dead trees surrounded the area, but the grass was a fresh green with roses growing all around. In the small storage shed next to the clearing, she pulled out a few weapons and tossed them to Akako. Midori sat down and began to polish the wooden edge. "Who's up first?" She asked. Akako sat next to Midori and arranged her weapons. The few Eiko had handed to her included a long staff with a spear at the end and a scythe. The staff was decorated and the ending spear had two others on each side. And the scythe was a metal engraved red on the inside and lined with silver. She held both up debating which to use.
In the end she had decided to use the scythe, "All right I'll go first! Naruto do you want to try a warm up with me, ne, or is it too challenging?" He got up and gave a playful glare, "Let's see you try and beat me! Shadow clone jutsu!" Without wasting a moment the battle had begun. Naruto surrounded her with lots of clones each wearing the same grin. Surprised to see this type of move from him, Akako faltered for a moment and then regained composure. "Come out and play Naru-chan!"
She held up the scythe and did a spin where she spun the scythe with her body. Red light shot out of the very edge in a thin line. Smoke filled the clearing until all that was left was an unconscious Naruto, flung back against a dead tree. "Sugoi Akako, you've really come a long way on that ni-sen jutsu." Eiko praised her. The very name was red-line, and the red line was produced by her chakra traveling through the scythe as a medium. Each of the girls practiced using an object as a medium because it boosted each of their strengths. Akako sat down panting a bit, the move had taken a lot out of her, and she would need to practice it more. "Ne, Midori-nee, are you going?" She shook her head and continued to polish the fans.
"I'll go then." Eiko announced. Without being asked to, Sasuke stood up as well. "Won't you need your staff?" Indeed she had left her staff lying next to Midori. She giggled. "Eiko only uses the staff if she is fighting someone of strength. As much as she likes you she'll deny any use of it until you show true strength." Sasuke looked at Midori when she said this, surely he looked strong. "Looking at Mi-chan's pretty face isn't going to help you win Sasuke-kun." Eiko laughed again. "I suppose you want a real fight then? Alright! Black arts: kyousei yami!"
"Oh! She's using the jutsu Mi-nee, look!" Akako said excitedly. Midori went on with polishing her fans, simply nodding in response. Her sister pouted and sat down next to Naruto. She continued to apply the ointment to where he'd been cut or bruised. "What's the jutsu do?" Sakura asked her.
"Her black arts jutsu involves various genjutsu or ninjutsu. Great darkness if always her first move and it's a genjutsu that's nearly impossible to get out of. Only Midori and I know how to, Nozomi-sensei too, but she had trouble trying to learn how! It's her greatest strategy." Just like Akako had explained the area around Sasuke and Eiko was growing dim, and a hazy blackness was sprouting from Eiko and covering the area. A minute later Sakura couldn't see anymore. "Sasuke-kun?" Her voice quivered in the inky darkness. Next to her Akako silently patted her hand and the soft sound of cloth rubbing against wood was heard.
"Do you give up yet Sasuke-kun?" Eiko teased. Around him her voice echoed making it impossible to tell where she was. "What kind of jutsu is this?" He asked. "I shouldn't tell you but…this is genjutsu. One that even your sensei would have trouble getting out of." Focusing on her voice was hard, it continued to echo. Finally he decided to throw kunai. They land in random directions but none sounded like they hit the target. He threw two more again, this time he heard the silent sound of footsteps as they moved. The noise was almost invisible but he grasped it and prepared the jutsu, "Fire ball jutsu!" The large fire ball rolled in the direction the footsteps had went but didn't hit the target. However, Sasuke saw Eiko the moment the fire highlighted the area.
Outside of the haze Midori jumped out of the way to avoid the fiery mess.
"Do you give up yet Sasuke-kun?" He gave no response. Eiko grew bored of the game; it was no fun when the mouse refused to take the bait. "Black arts: suffocation!" When Sasuke heard this he immediately went in the direction but it was too late as the darkness around him felt like it was closing in, suffocating him.
"Ne, ne, ne Sasuke-chan, are you awake yet?" Akako nudged the Uchiha for the seven hundredth time. Groggily he woke up and felt warmth run to his face. Both Eiko and Akako were at a close proximity to him. "It's almost evening," Eiko said, "I have to go prepare dinner again. Be prepared for tomorrow Sasuke-kun!" She picked up her staff and headed towards the main house. Akako stood up to lend him a hand, "She's right about being prepared for tomorrow. That's when the chuunin exams start. Not many people make it…especially when they're weak." Outside the gates they faced opposite directions. "Hn."
"Will you make it Sasuke-chan?"
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
So someone reviewed for the first chapter it made me happy. Reviews are happiness and I'd appriciate your input before I post the next chapter. I'm posting in a way where like if I've made 3 chapters I'll post 2 when I finish 4. Since I'm almost done this other chapter I'll post 2.
I'll check tomorrow to see how it's doing so input! Review! That shtuff!
-Muffin