Disclaimer: of course I own Naruto. Wait, why don't you believe me? DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!!
--
Five shinobi were in a room. One was sitting behind a large oak desk in a high-backed chair, dressed in her ceremonial red robes and hat. Her elbows were resting on the desk, her hands folded together and her fingers intertwined. Her eyes examined the ninja before her.
The first from the left was one she had known and trained for the last four years – since she was a twelve-year-old girl – and she had grown into a fine young woman. As kunoichi go, she was remarkably brilliant and talented in chakra control – she had made an outstanding medical ninja, as well as a caring teacher whose students excelled at the local academy. She wore her regular outfit – a chainmail shirt and simple shorts underneath the red dress bearing the Haruno symbol. She held her clasped hands in front of her, and smiled as one smiles politely at refined dinner parties.
The second was a tall man in his late twenties whom she had known and served with for over a decade, now. His unkept silver hair looked as if it had been blown over by the wind, and he wore the traditional Jounin uniform, as well as the metal-plated gloves he had never really taken off after his ANBU days. A simple cloth mask covered him from the bridge of his nose down to his shoulders, effectively hiding his features from all. His hitai-ate was pushed down over his left eye, covering the abilities it carried. His hands were shoved into his pockets, and he slouched as he stood before her. The way his only visible eye roved across the room clearly showed how bored he was with the proceedings. He made me wait for two hours, she thought, he can wait for five more minutes.
The third was a young man whom all had come to dread as the forbearer of trouble. Wearing a black t-shirt and orange pants that had been rolled up to his calves, he clearly stood out against the dull blues, greens, and reds that dominated the village's clothing selection. He had abandoned his jacket, deciding that it was too hot to wear in the sweltering heat of the evening. It had reached up to 100° that day. His arms were crossed and he pouted as he gazed out the window, in the direction of the Ichiraku Noodle Bar. He was obviously irritated that he was missing his usual suppertime. The boy was fond of his ramen.
And the last stood in the corner, her eyes closed, her back leaning against the wall. She seemed troubled about something … it was rather strange that the subject of the meeting was hiding in the dimmest spot in the room, where Tsunade could hardly see her, while her fellow ninja were all facing her desk, only a few feet away.
The Hokage shuffled a few papers on her desk until she found the application for citizenship. "Ichino Rosuto … female, fourteen years of age, height of 63 inches, weight of 107 pounds, blood type O, adept in all ninja arts but relies heavily on ninjutsu. Is that information correct?" Tsunade asked the girl.
"Yes," was her only monotone response.
"Hmm … the recommendation here that Kakashi filed says that you are blind, and you fight using echolocation."
"Yes."
"It also seems that he thinks very highly of you. But I am not so sure. Come over here."
Rosuto slowly walked across the room to stand in front of Kakashi, right before Tsunade's desk. Her eyes were still closed and her face was calm as she faced the legendary Sannin and Hokage before her.
"From what I see here, you don't have what it takes to be in the ANBU Black Ops unit."
"Why not?" Rosuto calmly stated.
"Well, for one thing, look at what you are wearing. Not exactly practical, platform sandals."
"But she beat me here running in those shoes!" Naruto interjected. Tsunade cocked an eyebrow.
"Actually, Naruto, she's right." Rosuto formed several seals and declared, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Instantly, she was wrapped in smoke. When it faded a minute later, she was dressed in her normal clothes and her kunai and shuriken holsters were attached to her waist and thigh. Her hair was back in its original low ponytail, and the make-up so carefully placed by Sakura had been wiped away. All traces of her former finery were gone, except for the curls that remained in her hair.
"Better. But I still don't know if you have what it takes to be an ANBU. If you have what it takes to slay others on command." Tsunade leaned back in her chair.
"She nearly KILLED me!!" Naruto once again interrupted.
"Gave me a few bruises more than once." Kakashi admitted.
"So she fought you, but she didn't kill you. You're still standing in front of me. Will she be able to kill enemy nin?" Tsunade addressed the two men by leaning toward the right and looking over Rosuto's shoulder.
"I am more than ready to do that," Rosuto commented in a somewhat detached voice.
"Even though you weren't born in Konoha?"
"How does that make any difference? I've never even seen Konohagakure. Nor any of the other places I've been. But that doesn't mean I can't be loyal to any of them."
"And how do I know you are loyal to Konohagakure? How do I know you are loyal to me?"
"I am loyal to Kakashi, and he is loyal to you. I have no problem taking orders from you, Hokage-sama." Rosuto bowed her head in respect.
"And what of your companions that will be coming to be with you? Will they be loyal as well?"
"I can assure it with utmost certainty. If they are not, I will kill them myself."
Kakashi nodded over the girl's shoulder. Clearly, she wasn't joking.
Tsunade stared at Rosuto for a moment. She seemed to have the proper skills, and there was no doubt of her ability to take orders. But there was still one thing lacking.
"Why?" Tsunade asked. Rosuto turned her head as if she didn't understand the question.
"Why do you wish to serve Konoha?"
Rosuto was silent for a moment. Then, she leaned on the desk, opening her eyes wide, staring at Tsunade with her infamous unseeing, yet ever ominous, gaze.
"Three reasons. First, there is something here that I wish to protect. Second, I have only been here once before. No one knows me here. Third –" she leaned closer, her once calm eyes suddenly radiating menace, "– there is something that I wish to prove."
"You are willing to risk your life, put yourself in dangerous situations, and be surrounded by death and pain? To risk your health for people you have never met before and might never see again? All for those reasons, vague and ambiguous as they are?" Tsunade stared right back, even though she knew Rosuto couldn't see her. The girl flinched as though the gaze were a sharp knife, but held the contact.
"I am no stranger to death and pain. I can tell you that much. My reasons for being here are my own, and you might learn the full story someday. But for now, know this: I would willingly lay down my life for Konoha. I will go where you send me to, kill whom you tell me to, be who you want me to be. Just let me stay. Let me make his village my home." Rosuto closed her eyes as she finished the speech. Her arms were shaking, if only slightly, and a single tear rain down her cheek. Tsunade got up out of her chair and opened a drawer, pulled out a package, and walked around the desk, laying a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder. She hadn't doubted Rosuto for a second.
"Then it's time you got one of these," Tsunade said, handing the package to the girl with her other hand.
Rosuto gently unwrapped it, her hand coming to rest on something smooth and hard. "What is it?"
Kakashi took the opportunity to answer. "It's the same thing I wore at your age. The armor of the Black Ops unit."
Rosuto smiled, clutching the uniform to her chest, no longer able to control the fresh flow of tears as they rolled down her cheeks.
--
Less then ten minutes later, Rosuto was walking back toward the Hokage's office, returning from the bathroom where she had gone to try on her new uniform. The long black pants and sleeveless black shirt helped to hide her body in the shadows, and she wore plated gloves, the fabric of which reached past her elbows. Light armor lay across her chest and back underneath her vest, as well as shin and lower-arm guards. In her hand she carried a white mask, painted in the simple image of a wolf. She had also changed out of her old sandals into the standard ANBU format – they were more heavy-duty, and had spikes on the soles for a better grip on uneven terrain. There was only one thing missing from her new attire – the tattoo that every ANBU bore on their left shoulder.
But that could wait until later tonight. Right now, she was standing outside the door to Tsunade's office, her hand resting on the knob. The moment she walked through this door, her days as a rogue-nin, wandering without purpose, selling her skills as a mercenary and dodging the tracking units, struggling to eat and wishing for more, would be over.
True, being a renegade was lonely work, but was she really ready to commit herself wholly to a woman she had only just met? Was she ready to fight with others in Konoha, people she hadn't ever known or even (she shuddered at the memory of Naruto's still form on the hospital bed) fought against; or possibly people who were close to those she had killed? Would this village accept her?
She was only fourteen after all, a child prodigy - and that wouldn't help much. Most people didn't appreciate children ordering them around, even if they were smarter than them. People couldn't stand that sort of thing. Couldn't stand people like her.
Stop, she thought. Now you're just getting ahead of yourself. Focus, Rosuto, focus. Kakashi probably had the same problems in the war that you're having right now.
Kakashi. The legendary Copy-Ninja, the wielder of the Lightning Blade. People respected him, admired him. If he could do it, then she could too. And if people knew he trusted her, they might trust her as well. Kakashi had done so much for her. She really should do something for him one of these days …
Rosuto took a deep breath. Here goes …
Kakashi turned as he heard the doorknob click. "Hey, guys – she's back." The others all turned from their conversation to peer through the open doorway.
"How do I look?" Rosuto asked. For about a minute, no one replied. Then Naruto broke the silence.
"That outfit makes you look like you can kick some major ass."
"Definitely your style," Sakura added with a smile.
"I guessed your size pretty well." Tsunade commented.
But Rosuto wasn't really paying that much attention to them. She was focusing on Kakashi, her acute ear waiting for what he would say, but he simply turned his back again. Rosuto sweat-dropped.
"Kakashi? What do you think? Doesn't Rosuto look great?" Sakura prompted him. He merely shrugged.
"S'okay, I guess."
Rosuto put on her mask as she walked over to join the rest of the group. "Real supportive, aren't you?"
He shrugged again.
Suddenly, Rosuto's head perked up, and she turned her head so that her left ear faced the window Tsunade was standing in clear view of. Without warning, she yelled, "WATCH OUT!!" and tackled the woman to the ground, a mere second before something came crashing through the thin pane of glass, barely missing them and instead hitting Kakashi in the face.
"Oof!" he cried out, pulling one hand out of his pocket to catch the offending object as it bounced off his nose.
"What WAS that thing?!" Tsunade hollered, very irritated that a) she had almost been hit, b) that window would cost a lot of money to repair, and c) she had landed on a pile of scrolls and her elbow had hit the nearby bookshelf, knocking down more scrolls, manuscripts, books, and other various objects, effectively scattering them all over the floor, herself, and the young ANBU.
"A shoe?" Kakashi was perplexed as he held up the object in his hand. It was, indeed, a shoe – tennis shoe, to be exact.
"WTF!!" Naruto blurted out. "Who would throw a shoe through your window?!"
Rosuto immediately scrambled out from under the debris and over Tsunade on her way to the shattered window, which she promptly dove out of. Turning a neat somersault in midair, she landed lightly on her toes in a crouching position, throwing one hand in front of her to halt her momentum. Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura followed right after, leaving Tsunade under a pile of crap and wondering exactly what the hell just happened.
Rosuto turned her head in all directions, her ears picking up every tiny sound coming from any point in the village. Something big was coming down the street, and she had a pretty good guess about what it was. She zeroed in on it, finding that her hunch was correct.
"Rosuto!" Kakashi ran up to her. "What is it? What's coming?" He pulled a kunai out of the holster strapped to his waist in preparation for battle.
"Hold on – don't attack just yet," the ANBU replied. "First see who it is."
Within five seconds, the "it" she referred to had come around the corner.
It was, I kid you not, a giant shoe.
Yes, a GIANT SHOE was "galloping" toward them, if you compared the movement to that of a horse, and on it rode a young woman. She was dressed in a black t-shirt with rhinestones proclaiming "The Doors" and blue jeans. Her shoulder-length black hair whipped around wildly as she struggled to hold on, her steely-blue eyes wide with a combination of panic and fury.
"DAMN YOU SHOE, SLOW DOWN!!" she proclaimed as she and the outrageously large shoe sped closer.
"NANI!?" Rosuto shrieked. (1)
"Yeah, really!" Naruto agreed.
"No, that's her name!" Rosuto explained.
"Nani?" he replied.
"Exactly!" Rosuto took off running as Nani passed them on her galloping shoe.
"Kids," Kakashi said with an exhasperated sigh, shaking his head before he ran after them both.
"What's going on here?" Sakura asked no one in particular.
"Dunno, let's go catch them!" Naruto declared as he grabbed her arm and dragged her along while he ran toward his former sensei. He had no clue what was happening, but he was determined to find out!
--
(Meanwhile)
Sasuke stopped by the hospital as soon as he got back to the village. He gratefully dropped his friends' luggage at the door and rushed in to talk to the nurse at the front desk.
"Uchiha Sasuke here, I've come to see a friend of mine," he panted, out of breath from the long trek back. The nurse looked up from her coffee and sudoku (2) puzzles, which she was doing horribly at, by the way.
"What's your friend's name?" she asked cheerfully.
"Uzumaki Naruto."
The nurse turned to her computer and typed several things in before giving up and turning back to Sasuke.
"Well, I seem to be having trouble with the filing system, Sasugei (3) … maybe if you describe him to me I'll be able to help you find him."
Sasuke sweat-dropped. Not only did she get his name wrong, she didn't know who Naruto was. Everyone knew who Naruto was.
"Okay … he's about two inches shorter than me, he has blonde spiky hair, blue eyes, and he's a ninja. Probably in critical condition." he said patiently.
"Oh, he's that one kid. Yeah, he left about 45 minutes ago with his friends – two girls and a silver-haired man – to go talk to somebody named the Hokage, I think. Whoever that is."
Oh my god. She doesn't even know who the Hokage is. What kind of MORON is she!?
Sasuke struggled to keep his voice level as he thanked her and walked out the front door. He ran off with two girls and a guy – that'd be Kakashi and Sakura, but who was the other girl? Ino? Hinata? Tenten?
And was it really that hard for them to stay in one place!?
--
Nani was having a bad day. She had lost her sandwich for lunch, the knee of her jeans had ripped, her dog had beaten her at Go-Fish (again!), and now her summoning shoe was going haywire! Not to mention the ninja who were chasing after her – they probably thought that she was an enemy!
She looked back over her shoulder and panicked. Oh, shit! Now I've got an ANBU after me! And he's catching up!
Rosuto was running full tilt toward the foreign shinobi, occasionally using the body flicker technique to jump forward several meters. Kakashi wasn't far behind, mimicking her idea and using the body flicker in order to catch up to them. Rosuto kept running until she was only three meters from the shoe and flickered one last time, landing right next to the other kunoichi, grabbing her from behind and dragging her off of the gargantuan footwear so that Kakashi could put a stop to its tirade.
"OH MY GOD!! PEDOPHILE!! HE'S GOT ME!!" Nani shrieked as Rosuto landed. The kunoichi kicked and punched at her captor, desperately trying to escape. But to no avail. The ANBU held her tight.
"Shut up, will you? I'm not a pedophile, I'm a girl!" Rosuto grunted through her teeth as Nani elbowed her in the face. Good thing she was wearing a mask, or that would have hurt a lot more.
"OH MY GOD!! THIS IS SO WRONG!! I'M BEING ABDUCTED BY A HOMO-PEDOPHILE!! SOMEBODY SAVE ME!!" Nani continued to squirm with a new vigor.
"I'M NOT A PEDOPHILE, YOU IDJIT!! CALM DOWN AND QUIT HITTING ME!!" Rosuto tried to pacify her hostage, but her voice was drowned out by Nani's earsplitting cries. The whole village can probably hear the racket she's putting up, Rosuto thought. For crying out loud, why can't she shut up!? What a way to start my career as an ANBU.
"AAAAAAAAHH!! PEDOPHILE!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!" Nani finally succeeded in breaking Rosuto's grip. She jumped away, and shook a fist at the ANBU's face. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?! DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF 'NO, GO AWAY'?!"
"What's wrong with me? How about what's wrong with you!? YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S TRESPASSING, DISTURBING THE PEACE, AND ASSAULTING A SHINOBI!!"
"ASSAULT IS AN OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD!! IF YOU DIDN'T WANT TO GET BEAT UP, WHY'D YOU BECOME A NINJA?!"
"DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE TO BEAT ME UP FOR TRYING TO SAVE YOUR ASS!! MAYBE NEXT TIME I WON'T BOTHER!!"
"SAVE ME?! YOU WERE TRYING TO KIDNAP ME, PEDOPHILE!!"
"I TOLD YOU, I'M NOT A FRIGGIN' PEDOPHILE!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!" both of them screamed in frustration at the argument that was going nowhere and the stupidity of the other, which promptly lead to a slap-fight.
"WTF!? What are they doing?!" Naruto asked Kakashi as he pointed accusingly at the kunoichi. He had just caught up to them, pulling a disheveled Sakura in his wake.
"I'm not sure on this, but I think the black-haired one is winning." he answered, watching the proceedings with interest. He was still holding the laces of the huge shoe with his left hand as he did so.
"No, I mean, why are they having a slap-fight?! They're SHINOBI for crying out loud!!" the young man marched over to where Rosuto and Nani were standing, brought his fists up, and hit them both upside the head. "WOULD YOU TWO STOP IT?! YOU DISGRACE THE NAME NINJA!!" he shouted reprovingly at them.
"OW!" both girls cried out.
"B-but … I was almost abducted … by a pedophile!" Nani whined.
"You were not! I told you, I'm not a pedophile! I'M YOUR BEST FRIEND!!" Rosuto barked at her, throwing down the mask that concealed her face.
"OH MY GOSH, RO-CHAN!" Nani's face immediately brightened as she glomped her companion. The ANBU was only two years younger than her friend, but she was still swamped by Nani's comparitively larger girth.
"Nani … let go … can't breath!" Rosuto gasped.
"Sorry!"
"God … don't you guys know how to give normal hugs?" Kakashi stared at them. Nani turned away from Rosuto to look at him.
"You must be Kakashi." she offered him her hand to shake.
"Correct. And you're Nani, if I'm not mistaken?" he replied, keeping his hold on the summoning shoe with his left hand and not bothering to take his right one out of his pocket. Nani dropped hers. A long moment of silence passed between them.
"What's you're real name?" Kakashi blurted out suddenly.
"What's behind you're mask?" Nani shot back.
They continued to stare at each other for nearly a whole minute, his one eye glaring suspiciously at her, she returning his gaze in an equally distrusting manner, neither giving in nor giving quarter.
"You don't ask me, I don't ask you." Nani finally murmured in an I-won't-take-any-nonsense kind of voice.
Kakashi continued to glare at her for a few seconds before finally saying, "Deal."
They both relaxed, reverting back to their usual demeanors.
"You guys are so weird," Rosuto complained, hands on her hips. "Why are all my friends so weird!?"
"Because you're so weird that normal people would never want to be friends with you." Nani explained calmly.
"She's got a point there." Kakashi added.
"SHUT UP! WHO ASKED YOU GUYS, ANYWAY?!" Rosuto huffed.
"You did." he said quite simply.
"I SAID SHUT IT!" she shook her fist at him.
"Shinobi rule #25. A ninja must never show – " Kakashi began.
"Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah. Who needs those stupid rules, anyway?!" Rosuto interrupted him.
"You do."
"AAAAARGH!" She threw herself at the silver-haired man.
"Rosuto, stop it." Nani pulled her back by the ear.
"Ouch, that hurts!"
"By the way, do you want your shoe back or can I just get rid of it?" Kakashi asked Nani. He tugged on the laces, causing the shoe to hop closer to them.
"Oops – nearly forgot about that." Nani formed a few quick seals before laying her hand on the shoe, causing it to vanish in a puff of smoke. In its stead was left a green-camo backpack and a sleeping golden retriever.
"OBI, YOU JACKASS! WAKE UP!!" she yelled as she kicked the dog repeatedly in the chest.
"Huh?" the dog muttered, opening one eye to glance groggily in his mistress' direction.
"I WAS IN SERIOUS SHIT, AND YOU SLEPT THROUGH THE WHOLE THING!! WHY DO I FEED YOU?!"
"Because you think my fluffy fur is adorable," he reminded her.
"Oh yeah … BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT! You abandoned me in my time of need!" she stated theatrically.
"Whoa, your dog can TALK! Just like Kakashi's dog, what's his name … " Naruto interrupted.
"Pakkun." Sakura supplied the answer.
"Yeah, that one."
Obi (the dog) stared up at him. "You really are an idiot, aren't you?"
"Yeah … wait, WHAT!?" Naruto exploded with anger, coming out of his daze.
"Of course I can talk, moron. All animal-nin can." The retriever replied, closing his eye again.
"Is anyone else hungry? 'Cuz I am." Rosuto interjected with her sporadic statement.
"You're always hungry." Nani replied.
"Actually, I'm kinda hungry, too," Sakura said, absent-mindedly rubbing her shoulder where Rosuto's shuriken had wounded her.
"LET'S GO TO ICHIRAKU!!" Naruto shouted, grinning with excitement.
"Wuzzat?" Rosuto cocked an eyebrow.
"Only the BEST NOODLE STAND EVER!!" he replied, his eyes sparkling and his fingers twitching, just waiting to grab a pair of chopsticks and a bowl.
"OHMIGOSHRAMENILOVERAMENTAKMETOYOURAMEN!!" (translation: oh my gosh ramen I love ramen take me to your ramen) Rosuto shrieked happily and began jumping up and down. She began speaking so fast the others had trouble understanding her. "WERZARAMENIWANITGIVITOMENOW!!" (translation: where's the ramen I want it give it to me now)
"I thought she only got his hyper over candy," Kakashi said, slightly confused. "If I knew she liked ramen so much I would have tried that before."
"What's she saying?" Sakura asked. She was having trouble focusing. Rosuto wasn't helping with her million-miles-an-hour speech.
"To put it simply, she really wants that ramen." Nani shrugged. "I won't bother telling you the whole thing."
"Oh … where am I?" Sakura was having trouble remembering exactly what it was she was doing. A ringing noise sounded in her ears, and a fogginess was taking hold of her mind, blocking her thoughts from connecting properly. The ground beneath her started to spin …
"Sakura, are you okay?!" an urgent voice reached her muddled brain. She couldn't tell who it was. It sounded like Naruto. Was it Naruto? Wait … who's Naruto? Does he taste good? (5)
The others watched in horror as Sakura's eyes rolled back and she collapsed, unconscious.
--
Footnotes:
1. This is a Japanese play on words. "Nani" means "what" in Japanese, so when Rosuto says "Nani?" she's saying her friend's name. Naruto, however, believes she's saying "Nani?" as in "What's going on?", so he agrees, saying "Yeah, really!" So when Rosuto tells him that her name is Nani and he replies, "Nani?" as in, "What exactly do you mean?" she thinks he's saying "Nani?" as in, "Really? Her name is Nani?", she replied by saying "Exactly". This, of course, was done on purpose by kakashiindrag (my coauthor and the friend Nani is based off of).
2. Sudoku is a popular logic game, where the player is given a nine-by-nine grid, and has to fill in the numbers one through nine in every column, row, and three-by-three box based off the numbers already provided. Many people find it difficult to solve, but it's addictive, and also is proven to help decrease the chances of memory loss and improve your I.Q.
3. This is just me messing around with Sasuke's name - the way the nurse says it, it would be pronounced "Sas-gay" instead of "Sas-kay". That one was just for laughs.
4. Actually, there isn't a four, you're just imagining things. You crazy person.
5. This is a play on Naruto's name - in Japanese, naruto is actually a kind of fishcake you eat with ramen. Apparently, Kishimoto-sensei really likes his noodles. In case you were wondering, Sakura is the word for cherry blossoms, Sasuke's name was derived from the name of a famous samurai (which is also where his clan symbol, the fan, comes from; it was considered good luck in feudal Japan), and Kakashi is the word for a scarecrow.
--
Author's Note:
HAHAHAHAA!! POSSIBLY MY BEST CLIFF-HANGER YET! MY EVIL PLAN IS IN MOTION!!
And a slightly long chapter … totaled 9 pages, 159 paragraphs, 338 lines, 4176 words, 19251 characters without spaces and 25500 with spaces. That's not including disclaimer or author's note! Well, actually, I went back and added some more stuff, so that's not entirely accurate, it's really more. I usually don't make my chapters this long. But then again, the story "The Leaf That Found Its Way" (totally cool, recommend it to all you lord of the rings fans) gets 16000+ words per chapter. Maybe that's why there's only, like, five of them so far. So my wimpy little chapters pale in comparison! (cries) … yeah, the shortest one of those is 5000+ words. But that's okay!! POWER TO THE 5-10 PAGE LONG CHAPTERS!! MY STORY IS GOOD TOO, EVEN IF IT'S SHORT! AND I'LL PROBABLY HAVE MORE CHAPTERS THAN THEY DO, SO HA!!
Anyway, so Sakura's in intensive care, Tsunade has a poker match with Obi, Nani demonstrates her shoe-jutsu, Rosuto, Kakashi and Naruto have a very long talk, and Sasuke STILL CAN'T FIND THE REST OF CELL SEVEN!! That's okay though, I can torture him cuz he's an emo jerk with a stick shoved up his ass all the time. And he smells. So there.
Btw, my good friend kakashiindrag is helping me by co-authoring the next chapter. Look her up some time.
Mmmmm … ramen …
One, two, three, four, … um, go and review some more! (okay, so maybe I'm not a good cheerleader. Just do it, okay?)