A/N: Welcome to the second chapter of Don't Wither, Don't Wilt. I don't have much to say for this chapter, enjoy.
QUICK CREDITS: Sakura Haruno and Kakashi Hatake, along with the series belong to Naruto. Hana Uchiha is MY character, along with Hikaru and Niigata. Aibara belongs to midnight6606. Ringo Hyuga belongs to Sunsetfire of Shinobi Way.
ON WITH THE STORY!
"Okay," The sensei spoke, "We can introduce ourselves now." The greasy-haired female as she leaned back against the tree trunk. Her bored brown eyes glanced between the three genin, who had placed themselves on nearby branches. Hana noted that the Hyuga looked very uncomfortable in his spot, which Hana saw was right next to the white-haired girl. Maybe he's gay? The girl thought before glancing back at her sensei.
"Oi!" The Hyuga yelled suddenly, Hana didn't bother glancing back over, but instead repositioned herself on the branch while the boy complained, "Why did you pick a freaking tree to hold a team meeting in?" His voice was a tad to high to match his tall, slightly-built body - but was not nearly as puberty-stricken as Naruto's voice had been when she first met him - Hana noted.
Her sensei shifted her footing before answering, "Oh, I don't know," She spoke in a lazy voice, "It just feels a bit more... like home," The Hyuga rolled his eyes at this answer.
Her sensei chuckled, and continued, "Now for the introductions, I'll start them off," The woman spoke, before clearing her throat, "My name is Niigata, Akeko. I've been a jounin for about three years now, and hopefully, you guys will be my first team." Hana could easily feel the tension that ran past her new teammates.
"Hopefully?" The white-haired girl spoke in a quiet and questioning voice.
Niigata-sensei grinned, and shook her head, "Nothing to worry about, dear," She laughed, but it sounded fake when she cut it off briskly. Her dark brown eyes moved swiftly to the Hyuga, "You, boy, introduce yourself."
"What happened to lady's first?" The boy replied only to receive a cold glare from their sensei. He shivered, "Okay, okay," He said and crossed his arms and closed his eyes before speaking, "The name's Hyuga, Ringo. I'm the youngest of to many siblings to count, and I hate just about everyone and everything. There, happy?"
The young girls found this amusing, both of them giggling in mild-harmony. The tanned girl threw up her arm next, and Hana could see a wild excitement in her wicked violet eyes, "Okinawa, Aibara's my name!" She shouted confidently. Akeko raised a brow at her excitement while the girl went on, "I'm originally from the River Country, but my parents sent me here five years ago so I could get better training!" The girl finished with a wide smile, and finally put her arm down.
After a second, she found both the wicked eyes of Aibara, and the amazing eyes of Ringo on her. Hana found herself having to choke out her first few words. She hated introducing herself, "My name is Uchiha, Hana. Uhm... There isn't much to say-"
"Isn't much to say!?" Ringo barked suddenly. Hana looked up at the Hyuga, but his brows were furrowed angrily, "My big bro's right, you Uchiha's are all the same: modest, cocky, annoying, and you think you're better than everyone else!" The Hyuga ended with a hmph.
Hana didn't show any signs of hurt against these words. Ringo had never seemed to like her at school, he always shot her glares when they were partnered up together. The girl continued, "There isn't much to say-... Except that some people call me Chibi, since I stopped growing at the age of nine..." Hana shrugged and leaned back.
Aibara laughed at this little packet of information, "You stopped growing when you were nine? Damn, I'm still growing!" Aibara giggled again. Ringo seemed like he couldn't care less. Hana shrugged again, and then looked to Niigata-sensei for further instructions.
"Ah-okay then," Niigata said quickly. She had kicked herself off of the tree and was rummaging through her pockets. After a moment, she pulled out a pouch that jingled faintly with the sound of coins. Ringo's eyes widened a fraction when he heard the money, making Aibara giggle again. Niigata stared at the pouch for a moment, before tossing it Hana's way.
The girl caught the pouch and stared at it for a second, "Sensei..?"
"Use that to get yourselves some lunch," Their sensei spoke with a grin, and moved her hands together, "You are all to meet on the sixth training ground tomorrow at noon, understood?" She said as she moved her dark gaze over the three of them.
"Hai, Sensei!" The three genin spoke in unison, just before their sensei disappeared in a puff of smoke.
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"How much do we got in there?" Ringo kept peaking over the Uchiha's shoulder as she went through the money carefully. Even though the tiny girl kept trying to shrug him off, Ringo kept trying to peak at the stash of yen in the pouch, "Is that a bill for 5000 yen!?" Ringo peaked a glance at the numerous amount of bills. Hana sighed.
"Yeah, what about it?" Hana grumbled. She suddenly found herself ducking, as Ringo grabbed for the money pouch quickly. Admist the rough housing between the two, Ringo snatched the bag of money and held it up high.
He laughed, "I say, we go to the most expensive restaurant in the village, get fat, and then make Sensei cry when she sees that all her money is gone!" Ringo said, and laughed again as Hana attempted to jump for the money pouch, "I really feel sorry for you Chibi-" Ringo choked out a few laughing sounds as Hana tickled him briefly.
She grabbed the money pouch admist his laughing and moved on down the path to join Aibara again, "And I really feel sorry for you, Ringo-san, I'd hate to be ticklish," Hana giggled victoriously and glanced up at Aibara. She hated that the white-haired girl wasn't much shorter then Ringo, "I'm thinking ramen." Hana said, and moved her gaze to Ichiraku's ramen shop.
Aibara nodded, "Ramen sounds good right about now, and it's cheap!" She said happily, and literally jumped into the shop. Hana followed her, easily ducking under the flaps, and Ringo followed slowly behind her.
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"So you're not ticklish?" Ringo asked after they had been served their bowls of ramen. Hana shook her head no, "Not even one bit? Like even on your feet?" He took a long slurp of his noodles and looked at Hana again.
"Not even on my feet. I tend to kick people when they touch my feet," They fell into an awkward silence after that, with only the sound of slurping filling the ramen shop.
It surprised both Hana and Ringo when Aibara struck up the next conversation. They had forgotten how quiet she could be, "What do you think Niigata-sensei wants us to do tomorrow?" The girl spoke, and grabbed another mouthful of noodles. Ringo shrugged, but Hana thought for a second.
"Maybe we have a mission?" Hana said in an unsure voice. Ringo glanced at the raven-haired girl.
"Didn't that stupid brother of your's ever tell you about this crap?" Ringo spoke unkindly. Hana narrowed her eyes.
"No. Did your stupid siblings ever tell you?" Hana tried to mock Ringo's voice, "You have to many to count. One of them must have told you something."
Ringo sighed and leaned back, "They all moved out the second they graduated," Ringo said, "We actually celebrated in their new house when they graduated - except, they were all about sixteen or seventeen when they graduated, and I'm only twelve - and after that we just didn't hear from them," That seemed to answer Hana's and Aibara's next question.
Hana thought through the silence that came over them again, and giggled, "Well, if Uzumaki-kun managed to survive his first day with the strictest sensei around, whatever Niigata-sensei has in store for us shouldn't be to hard." Hana said, and added a little giggle. Aibara and Ringo nodded in agreement after a while, and Hana thought she saw humor in the Hyuga's pale eyes.
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"So you have a creepy greasy sensei?"
"Yep. Niigata-sensei is actually pretty cool."
"And a sexy white-haired girl?"
"Yeeah.. I guess you could put it that way.."
"What was the color of her eyes again?"
"Violet."
Hikaru looked confused.
"Purple."
"Oh."
"Idiot..."
"And then you have a Hyuga right?"
"Mhm, and he's such a pain in the ass!" Hana breathed and leaned against the porch which led into her house. After Hana had woken up from a coma after the massacre, Sasuke and her had moved to one of the few undamaged houses near the front of the Uchiha compound. Hana never knew if Sasuke was happy to be living on their land again, but she guessed he wasn't when he basically moved into another apartment after he'd graduated.
Hikaru didn't say anything, and glanced his glorious blue eyes up to the sky, "It's about noon, don't you have to leave?" He said. Hana noticed his voice wasn't urging, and smiled.
"Yeah, probably," She leaned over and hugged her best friend quick before standing up. Hana was wearing her ninja wear that Sakura had helped her pick out over past week. A loose white shirt draped over her front flat side, and was tied up twice - one around the neck, and again around the back. She wore red shorts under that, Sakura said they would match her newly-bought red headband, and would bring out her pale skin tone. Hana had gone along with it, just to get away from the girly-girl, "See you, Hikaru. Do you think you can visit again next week?" Hana asked hopefully. She missed her old friend, no matter how angry she had been at him.
Hikaru shrugged, "Not sure, but I'll definitely call tomorrow night!" He said with a teethy grin. That confidence never let her down before, Hana smiled and nodded, and was off in a flash.
Hikaru frowned after his friend, and got up slowly after she left, "Poor Hana, she doesn't know what she's in for."
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"Your assignment will be..." Niigata-sensei clapped her hands together, and nine boulders literally molded themselves from thin air. The boulders were about her height, and ranged in shapes, "To move these boulders across the finish, 50 meters away," She said, with a sly grin.
Ringo chuckled, "Looks easy enough."
Niigata-sensei grinned again, "The first one to get their three boulders across the finish line passes, the other two fail, and get sent back to the academy." Silence. Hana glanced over at her teammates, and saw that their eyes were wide as well. Aibara looked like she could cry any second, the poor thing.
"B-But, that can't be right..." Hana stuttered and clenched her fist, "How is- was- my brother in a team of three then?!" The Uchiha girl yelled suddenly. Ringo and Aibara stayed silent. Niigata-sensei smiled.
"Simple. It's a secret!" Niigata laughed, a cruel pitch touched her voice before she stopped suddenly, "Begin! You have until the sun sets!"
Ringo immediately charged for the first boulder, and hit it with a loud thud. The boulder moved a few inches, despite all the effort Ringo put into it. Hana shuddered, she had never been strong physically, everyone told her she'd be a master at mental techniques, like genjutsu and ninjutsu. She hadn't been prepared for this.
Aibara was already at her station, working just as hard as Ringo. Hana saw the two ton boulder move over its rounded sides, and then slap on one of its flatter sides. This was impossible.
Hana sighed, and moved to her station and started on her first boulder. It was the roundest one, and moved the easiest, but it was still a difficult activity.
The day wore on, and she could feel the sweat dripping from her as if it was raining. Hana loathed the sun now, and the brilliant day this was supposed to be.
Ringo was the first to get a boulder across the finish line about 50 meters away. He had taken off his shirt near the beginning, and now his body glistened with sweat. Hana blushed, this was no time to be staring at a boy. He caught her gaze though, with those strikingly pale eyes, and grinned wickedly. She was in last place, and moving at a suffering slow pace. He was glad to see an Uchiha fail, and Hana felt anger pulse through her. She pushed her first over the finish line about an hour after Ringo, and about a half hour after Aibara had pushed her first over.
Hana felt her knees give way. Why couldn't she have been born with a strong body like her brother's? Why was she given this frail body? Hana found herself puking up her last meal at the base of one of the rocks before managing to get up slowly.
Ringo was about half-way to the finish line, and Aibara was struggling at a quarter of a way there. Hana sighed, and closed her eyes. Brother, I'm sorry. She felt her throat tighten, I just can't pass... But she wouldn't let her team down, or Aibara down at least. Ringo could fail with her, for all she cared. Hana moved over to Aibara's boulder and started helping her.
Aibara glanced over, her violet eyes wide. Her thin summer clothes were caked to her body by sweat, and her violet eyes were sparking with determination, "You'll fail if you help me!" Aibara yelled through her effort to push the boulder forward. Hana coughed roughly, her weak heart was beating so fast that it hurt.
"I would have failed anyways, but let's not let Hyuga-kun win," Hana grunted. Aibara stared at her a moment, and nodded, before returning her focus to the boulder.
The sun was nearly set by the time Ringo was nearing the finish line with his final boulder. He was terribly slow though, while the girl's were still working up a steady pace. It seemed it would be a close race, but to their avail, time had run out, "Okay that's it! Your time's run out!" Niigata-sensei yelled.
Ringo yelled out in frustration. Hana and Aibara glanced over to see he was merely inches away from the finish line. They were only a couple of feet. Niigata walked over to the collapsed teens with her hands on her hips, "You were all very close," She said thoughtfully.
Hana wiped the sweat out of her eyes. She probably looked like she was crying, "Will the closest person pass then?" The girl asked slowly. Niigata-sensei looked like she was thinking, and finally shook her head.
"No."
"So we all fail?" Ringo asked with a worried tone to his voice.
"No," The three of them looked up, "You can start over tomorrow, considering you guys were so close." Ringo and Aibara looked confident, Hana sighed and stood up after a moment.
"Aibara?" Hana said weakly. The white-haired girl looked up, "Wanna go buy some ice cream at some place? I'm wiped." There was a little smile on Hana's face, but her eyes said otherwise. Aibara smiled and nodded, before managing to stand up weakly.
The two girls left the training grounds, leaving Ringo with Niigata-sensei.
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"Hana-chan, there's still a chance that you could pass tomorrow," Sakura said in a poor effort to cheer the girl up. Hana and Aibara had run into Sakura and Kakashi-sensei after they had cleaned up and went out for something cold to eat. Hana shook her head.
"You don't get it," Hana said weakly. She had not yet recovered from her fatigue, and her voice was shaky, "I didn't get the nice, strong genes that my brother's got. I wasn't made to push boulders around, my body's to weak. I can barely conjure up a fire jutsu as it is. My lungs and heart are to weak, they've always been," Hana could feel the distress eating away at her, as she sipped her slushy.
Kakashi glanced up from his book for the first time that evening, "You'd be surprised what one person can do," Hana laughed at this.
"You'd be surprised how weak one person can be."
It wasn't like Hana to talk back to her sensei's, but she was to stressed out to give a damn. Aibara picked at her slushy quietly, and sighed, "To bad we weren't just all one person, that sounds so much easier."
Kakashi and Sakura fell quiet, and Hana grew suspicious on their part. But now that she thought about it, a jolt of realization ran through her. She moved over and grabbed her teammate into a quick hug, "Aibara! You're a genius!"
Aibara looked shock at this hug, her violet eyes were widened a fraction, "I am?"
Sakura smiled, and Kakashi hid his face behind the book again, "They finally got it," he said.
QUICK BIO: Hana Chibi Uchiha
Birthday: July 13
Element: Fire. No lightning sadly.
Family: Sasuke Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha are her brothers, but only in the story, of course.
Appearance: Black hair, pale skin, silvery gray eyes. Like an Uchiha.
Clothing: Loose white shirt, no back to it, tied around the neck and waist. Along with red shorts, and headband.
Guess What?: Hana Uchiha is my first original character. I made her when I was around nine or ten years old ( I'm 14 now ), and she never looked like this. She used to have bright blue hair and blue eyes, very peachy skin, a basically sakura's dress in blue. This girl went through names like Shishoukou ( made up rubbish at first ) to Iceblink ( cause of a book about wolves ) to Chihiro, then to Kajihana, and then finally down to Hana. She gained the middle/nickname of Chibi when I sadly stopped growing around the age of 11 - 12, and I'm under five feet, a legal midget. So sad. v.v