Kali plopped into the fresh bed and tossed her backpack to the floor. Sweet Grass, an auburn wolf lifted her head from the matt by the door. She was only interested for a second before resting her head back down and closing her brown eyes to sleep. Kali stared at her calm companion for a while. Sweet Grass was the calm and collected sister of Wind Song. There was a split in pack as soon as Kali had left. Kali returned not long after she found out about this and returned to solve the issue. Through this, Sweet Grass joined Kali and agreed to come with her here. The wolf felt obliged to come, due to the fact Arrow is the son of Wind Song.
"Wow, Sweet," Kali said to the wolf, "Even wolves' lives are complicated." Sweet Grass twitched an ear, but no other sign of consciousness presented itself. Kali smiled and rested her eyes.
"Hey, Kali," Oji called from the small kitchen.
"Yeah," Kali replied.
"When does the school start? I mean, what time in the morning?"
"Hm..." Kali sat up and searched the calendar on the desk that had yet to be put up. "It says...early." She heard Oji huff sarcastically. They went on for a while before shutting their separate doors and falling into sleep.
The next morning, Kali orchestrated the morning and got them both out of the house with only a few minutes to spare. They decided to run there to get the blood pumping. It soon turned into a race and they laughed happily as they darted through the streets. Ino had just emerged from her house when the two came rushing by.
"Hey, Oji!" she called. The two slowed to a stop. Kali smiled at Oji who grinned at Ino and waved.
"What's up, Ino," he greeted as she walked up.
"How did yesterday go?"
"Good, the plan went off without a hitch and we got a spot in the ninja academy."
"Cool," she smiled. Oji gestured in the direction they were going politely. "Join us for the walk?" She chuckled.
"Sure!" Ino took a place next to Oji. All Oji had to do was get her started and she would talk for most of the walk. It was okay with him, though; he listened well. Kali trailed then skipped ahead, and sort of moved about restlessly, unhappy the race had come to an end so quickly. She fell back slightly and observed Ino. Ino was pretty, sure, but she's trying to get oil out of a water well. Kali looked ahead and saw Team seven arriving at school. She knew there classes were different than theirs so she decided not to approach. They had a life and missions and such that they had to get to. She had stuff to do as well. They got into the school, applied quickly and the day had began.
Two hours later. Oji sat in his new class staring at his teacher. Augh, he thought to himself with an outward sigh, My brain is melting... how do they get through this? He rested his chin on his arms, laid on the desk. He twitched his ear and one of the girls made a surprised noise Oji hadn't heard before. He looked at her and she snapped to attention staring nervously at the teacher. Oji only looked for a second before his lazy attention rested back on the teacher. He was writing something on the board about a ninja's sneaking ability. Oji wasn't impressed. This trivial knowledge was long since learned. He closed his eyes for a second.
"Oji!" The teacher called sternly. Oji's eyes opened slowly and he seemed to barely be there. "Since you seem so confident, why don't you tell us the problem with this ambush tactic." Oji didn't move for a second. He observed the board and the plan drawn there, before standing and taking a breath.
"Well, first off, the attack defies the gravitational factor;" Oji answered, "not to mention the assailant is placed at a very vulnerable position making him easy prey for the enemy scout."
"Very good,"-
"And one more thing," Oji continued, "The ambush is set incorrectly due to the fact that the assailant is too far right, setting him or her in an awkward situation and causing the attack to be weaker than being farther left." There was a pause as the teacher stared in surprise at the drawing.
"Well, your right," he complied impressed. Oji sat back down and rested his head back in its comfortable position on the desk. The teacher looked awkwardly at him before continuing the lesson. Oji went pack to his thoughts and looked out the window. I wonder how sis is doing...
The bell rang and students filled the halls. Kali flowed with them and moved to her designated locker. A boy approached.
"Hey, you new here?" he asked. Kali looked at him with a smile.
"Yeah," she answered.
"My names Aaron," he produced his hand.
"Kali, nice to meet you," she shoot his hand then proceeded to change books in her locker.
"So how long have you been here?"
"Just today I joined. And you?"
"Oh, about two years." Kali closed the locker and turned to walk down the hall, books wrapped in her arms and some in her backpack. "Need some help with those?" He gestured to the books.
"No thank you, my brother will be here soon and he will help." Just as she said it, Oji appeared from the crowd and stood behind Aaron.
"And you are...?" Oji growled as he towered over the younger boy. Aaron sweated and looked up.
"Hey, Oji," Kali said calmly, "This is Aaron. He was just offering to help with my books." Oji glared at the nervous boy.
"Ah, well, Aaron," Oji spat the name out roughly, "You wouldn't want to be late, would you..." Aaron sweated more before laughing, even more uneasy than before.
"Uh...right, see ya round Kali!" and in an instant he was gone. Kali looked up at Oji who was holding his hand out for Kali's books. She produced them. She didn't approve fully of his actions, but she knew where the kid was going with his offers and she didn't want to be rude. Might as well let Oji do that for her.
"So how is your day so far, Oji?" Kali asked as they walked down the hall. They had the same class so they had no reason to part.
"Augh!" Oji moaned, "I don't think I can take much more of this! This school thing is crazy."
"You're tellin me!" Kali agreed, "The questions are so trivial. But don't worry, we should be able to ace the tests and move up to actual ninja ranks by next week."
"A whole week!?"
"Yes, Oji, a whole week. That will be enough time for one test to go by, and them to know our skill." Oji stuffed his hands in his pockets as they entered the classroom. Kali nudged Oji and pointed with her eyes at a familiar face. Oji spotted him instantly- Aaron sat and talked with a friend.
"Hey, Kal," Oji said, making eye contact with her. His crazy smile told Kali what he was thinking. She smiled back.
"Aw, Oji, C'mon," She looked away in play hesitation.
"C'mon, Kali it's just a little fun." Kali looked back up to him and returned the crazy smile.
Aaron turned from his friend at the lull in the conversation and saw Kali sit in the chair next to him. He jumped in surprise.
"Hey, Aaron," she greeted with a smile.
"H-hey, Kali!" He almost smiled if he hadn't spotted the cross-faced Oji sit next to Kali. "oh…" He groaned lightly. Oji shot a look at Aaron that made the helpless boy hold his breath. "Hey," he leaned in to whisper to Kali. "What's with your brother?" he whispered.
"Oh, he's kind of a body-guard type." Kali leaned back in her chair. Oji rested his head on his arms like before and glared at Aaron. For most of the class Aaron sat straight, trying to keep Kali between him and Oji. When the class let out, Oji laughed. Kali just smiled in pleasure. There had been a few boys like Aaron and Oji had helped with most.
Sasuke looked up and wiped the sweat from his brow. He threw out the handful of weeds he was pocking from the old lady's garden. He looked up at the lone cloud in the sky that was in no hurry to cover the blazing hot sun. He thought of Kali. How was she doing he wondered. It should be time for the last lesson by now. Where would she go after class? Maybe to the woods, or possibly back to her house. Sasuke pulled a tough weed from the earth and settled on an idea. He would go by her house after he was through here. Maybe she wouldn't be busy and… He could think of nothing to do once he got there! Oh, well, he would think it over on the way over there.
Naruto yelped as the lady whacked him upside the head for pulling up the wrong plants. Sasuke watched for a second before pulling another weed. This liking a girl stuff wasn't one of his things. Just like owning a dog wasn't something he had done before. He gave a sigh.
Kali held her books in her arms and headed home. Oji had gone to the woods to visit Akkan and wouldn't be back for some time. So Kali had the entire day to herself. But what to do today? She was about half way to her house when she was met by Ino.
"Hey, Ino, what's up?" Kali greeted.
"Just wondering where your brother is. Do you know?" Ino replied. Kali pondered for a second.
"I don't exactly where he is, but he should be in the woods somewhere."
"Thanks, Kali!" Ino set off.
"Oh, Ino, he may not want to be disturbed!" Kali called out. Ino waved back to show she had heard, but didn't hesitate any. Kali sighed at the irony of Oji's situation and headed on her way. She got home and was greeted by Sweet Grass and her not so energetic self. The wolf approached with a slowly wagging tail before retreating to her food bowl. "Wow, Sweet Grass, that was a heck of a greeting," Kali said sarcastically. The dog's tail swayed once. Kali threw her books onto the bed and fell onto it herself.
Sasuke walked down the busy afternoon street. People bought and sold their goods merrily, and the small children ran in and out of the groups of parents. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and read all of the signs he passed. Feeling the change in his pocket, he thought of maybe buying something for Kali. He sighed. What did girls like anyway? He tried to think of what Sakura liked. Somehow, he doubted Kali would like what that crazy fangirl liked.
He passed by a knickknack shop and peered into the wares. Maybe something like this. He was studying the things when the shop keeper approached.
"Need something, kid?" he asked. Sasuke didn't want this to be to complicated so he turned to leave.
"Nah," he replied.
"How about something for that girl in your life? Got one, kid?" The shopkeeper asked. Sasuke turned. "Here's a very special flower for said girl." He produced a glass flower molded to resemble a rose. And one of the blue ones Kali had behind her ear yesterday.
"How much is it?" Sasuke asked.