The days passed by fast at our school. It was a repetitive cycle, day after day we would go to our classes, learn things that we'll probably never apply to our future work, and then head off back home with loads of homework. But, soon, around mid April, something happened. It was a big thing, this whole something, something major, that I never thought would drag Dosu, Kin, and me into a whole big mess.
The hallways were bustling, lockers were slamming closed, and the idle chatter of students echoed along the clean, nicely built building. That is, until a certain group slowly walked their way through the halls. A young boy led the pack, holding a grey packet in his hand tightly. Following close by were four others, their eyes staying ahead of them, each face held a scowl on it.
The boy turned around, then stared placidly at the quiet crowd. He had stopped at the bulletin board, where the Sound Five always posted the news they got from the principal. In a clear, unwavering voice he said, "As you know, the Academic Tournament is coming up. We will be calling up the names of the few who will be expected to take the entry test into this tournament. The entry test is only open to nine members. These nine members will then be limited to a select three members. These will be the people representing the school in the national Academic Tournament. Please step up once your name is called so Kidoumaru can lead you to the testing room."
A red headed girl took her place along the boy, and then snatched the packet out of his hand, ignoring the scowl she received from the other. "Abumi Zaku, Akira Akimoto, Masahiro Takahashi, Miharu Ishimaru, Kinuta Dosu, Taiga Ogawa, Taiki Suzuki, Tsuchi Kin,Yoshikuni Kazuma, please step forward."
A hush fell along the hallway. It was unheard of that the Sound Five weren't in the entry test. Every year, they were in. Kin stepped forward first, then, slowly, the others followed.
Kidoumaru turned, a slight frown on his face as he walked briskly towards another building, "The principal has been kind enough to leave us the faculty room for you to take the test. This is time to take the test, but not to fool around. Any bad behavior in this room will not be taken lightly."
Laying a stack of tests on the table, the young boy added, "I think you all know what to do, just take a test, and get to work, I'll come back in two hours." The door slammed after him, and left a tense, quiet room.
"Soo… Uh…" Zaku shifted uncomfortably, such a weird situation… He had nothing to say for once.
"We should get going on the test," Kin broke the uncomfortable silence, and walked towards the table, taking a test firmly in her hands. "C'mon, just take one and do it. It's not like we're gonna die."
I wonder if Kin ever got that women's intuition thing during that test. I mean, it did lead to horrible things. But I'll never really know exactly what she thought. It wasn't like we ever saw anything after that happened… I suppose I can tell you about the thing that happened. But I'll save it for later, if you really care that much… The time that we took the test seemed to race by, in my opinion, and soon, we were all done. It was quiet though, we were all a little unnerved. After all, everyone knew that it was the Sound Five that usually represented us in the knowledge tournament. Especially against our rivals, Konoha, School of Talents. Konoha, being a larger and richer school, could afford more representatives than we could. So we usually sent the best of the best there.
"Maaan, that was easy!" Kin grinned, stretching slightly as the trio stepped out of the door.
"Says the one who took FOREVER on it," was Zaku's sharp retort.
"I was double-checking! Duh!" Kin scowled at the other, and pointed an accusing finger at him, "And at least I wasn't groaning every other problem!" She proceeded to imitate the other, waving her hands wildly and rolling her eyes for added effect, "'OMG! I can't get this one!' 'GR! I should know this!' 'UGH! Stupid fractions!'"
Zaku just scowled, and was about to start yelling when Dosu shushed them, "This IS the hallway, and everyone else is taking class right now. We should get going to history…"
The other two nodded and quickly followed after Dosu.
The three sat outside on the benches, two of them patiently waiting for their rides to come. A raggedy buggy came crashing by, stopping with a sharp screech. A woman stuck her head out the window and yelled, "Dosu! Get your ass over here! I've got a party to entertain. When you get home, get to your room, do your homework, and don't come out!"
Dosu just sighed and shouldered his pack; he turned to the others, forcing a smile, "See you guys tomorrow."
Kin nodded as Zaku added, "If your mom gets drunk again, you can crash at my place."
Dosu just nodded and stepped in. The buggy quickly swerved out of the driveway, and thundered out into the road.
Eventually, a black car drove up, and stopped at the curb. Kin got up, waving to her father in the driver's seat, "Hey dad!" Her dad just smiled and Kin climbed in. She waved bye to Zaku before it drove away.
Zaku shrugged and set down his skate board, and quickly skated off to his apartment.
A stream of laughter filtered through the room from the small television set, and Zaku snorted slightly at the joke as he sipped idly on his soda. This was always his favorite part… He brought a spoonful of soup up to his mouth, his eyes still glued firmly to the screen. He had finished his homework already, and he could hear the rain outside, pounding at the windows. He cocked his head slightly to the side when he heard a pounding on the door.
Slowly, Zaku got up, pushing his dinner to the side as he walked over to the door. As the door creaked open, his eyes fell upon a drenched Dosu and Kin, "… What the hell're you two doing here?!"
The two shrugged almost simultaneously before both saying, "Ran away."
Zaku groaned and let the two in, shutting the door behind them. "You better not get the carpet wet, or I'll kill you," he muttered as he threw two towels at the two. Dosu just smiled slightly as he dried off his hair. Kin draped the towel around her shoulders.
Turning to the two, Zaku sighed and pointed to Dosu, "You. Your mom probably got drunk again." Dosu nodded. Then, Zaku turned to Kin, "And you're probably just mad at your parents… So you're both crashing at my place, right?" As the two nodded, he sighed, scratching his head, "You guys are lucky it's the weekend…"
Kin cheered and Dosu just chuckled as they watched Zaku drag out blankets and pillows from a nearby closet. Zaku grinned, "I got pillows this time. So you guys can't steal mine."
A/N: Sorry for such a LONG wait. I was waaayy procrastinate-y when it came to this fanfic. Anyways, thanks for being so patient, and I've made the plot go on JUST a little faster. I've made up the pasts for Dosu and Kin, since I'm so wonderful at bs-ing stuff. Hopefully, from the story, you can find that Dosu's mom is single and a drunkard and that Kin has a fairly well life, but she hates it anyways.
Don't expect for Chapter 4 to come very soon. I have way too much homework to be healthy…