Today's date is January 22, 2011! (I wonder when I'll post this…)
Oh, and this chapter is a big, awesome one! I can't wait to get started on it. I try to make each chapter at least 3,000 words and since the last one was only about 3,015 I want to make this one about 3,500-4,000.
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Latching onto the ponytail tie around my wrist, I slowly pulled my hair into a ponytail at the top of my head. I let out a slow breath, letting the wind and air of Takigakure surround and embrace me. My muscles were completely relaxed and for once I felt at peace.
But moments can't last forever.
The familiar feeling of butterflies rose up in my stomach and I clutched my abdomen to try to make it stop. I didn't know how to make these feelings go away. I didn't know if I were actually getting sick, nervous, or excited. I may have been all three.
Letting the clip out of my hair, I let my bangs fall over my forehead. I had seen girls around the village have this hairstyle and I always had admired it. I lightly touched the minty strands of hair on my forehead and yawned. It was too damn early in the morning.
I had awoken at around six thirty. Usually, no matter what time I go to bed, I always wake up around eight, at a minimum. I've always had a thing for sleeping it, despite my mother always yelling at me for it. But, this morning, I was at a loss for what to do. My eyes cracked open at six o'clock sharp, and when I looked at my alarm clock to see the time, I groaned and refused to get up. I tried to make myself fall back asleep but it was to avail. I accepted defeat thirty minutes later and had made my way outside to my mother's balcony connecting to her bedroom. Good thing my mother was on a morning shift at the library.
I lifted my arms above my head in a stretch, and then down to my toes. My calves burned from the stretch, but I held the position until it subsided. My insides still churned with the unfamiliar emotion so I did some sit ups to try to eliminate the feeling. With no result other than a sore abdomen, I stopped and made my way downstairs, taking a small detour into my room to put on some socks.
Jogging down the steps of my staircase I felt my ponytail bounce on the back of my neck and the necklace I bought the other day jingle. It tickled and I let out a small giggle of delight. Just then did I realize how good of a mood I was in. Feeling the slipperiness of the wood underneath my sock covered feet, I twirled around at the base of the staircase, doing a ballerina-esque dance.
I imagined a large piano positioned in the living room, a man about my age, similar looking to Ryuu, tapping the ivory keys in a happy and upbeat tune. I made up my own tune in my head, adding a beat and some guitar licks, creating an energetic song inside of my head. Giggling some more, I danced, slid, moved, and twirled around my living room and kitchen, having more fun than I've had in awhile.
My heart beat increased and I could feel some sweat brimming around my forehead, but that didn't stop me. I danced into the kitchen and towards the refrigerator, opening the door and pulling out the carton of milk all while tapping my feet and humming along with the orchestra in my head. Pouring the milk into a bowl from the cupboard, I then added some cereal, perfecting my breakfast performance. I slid the bowl across the kitchen table for an excuse to dance to the other side.
I reluctantly sat down, slightly upset that the exciting moment had to end. I was pretty sure something like that wasn't going to happen again sometime soon.
Munching down on the crunchy flakes of my cereal, I pondered on what I was going to do today. I wondered if Ryuu was going to show up. Should I have gone out training to see if he'd be there? What if he came to the house while I was gone? Should I read a book today, snuggled in the comforts of the blankets in my bedroom? That way it'd still look like I was doing something even if he came over. But what if he didn't visit at all?
I sighed and decided to go with the book reading. I wouldn't be wasting my time, either. I've spent days and days just lying in bed and reading books before. It was amazing how easy it is to get sucked into another world in such a short period of time.
The bowl made a "ding!" sound when I dropped it into the sink, probably from the carelessness in which I put it in there with. I didn't mind, the noise reminding me of my previous dance party I had about twenty minutes ago.
I went into our living room, searching the bookshelves for a good book to read. I recognized most of the ones on the shelf, from my countless hours of devouring the pages contained on the shelves. My eyes scanned the bookends for an interesting title or possibly a new one. Mother might have brought one back from the library.
My eyes landed on a title I've never seen before named Chakra Infusion in Everyday Items.
Slipping it from the shelf, I skimmed the pages in hope of something interesting. Smirking at what I read, I decided to take it and I walked back up to my room.
From what I've read, or skimmed, the book was mainly about how Chakra can be put inside of things you've never even expected, such as toothpaste, plants, and even clay. I snorted and wondered how the hell Chakra in toothpaste would be useful.
Curling up in my covers on my bed, I turned on my lampshade and propped myself against the wall.
My room was small, so I had my bed shoved up against the left side of the room, near the door. The room was basically a narrow hallway, due to no items being in the middle and all of my stuff being on either side of the room. At the very end of the "hall" was my window. I had my bed, nightstand and bookshelves on the left side of my room, while my dresser, desk and chair, television, and radio on the right side.
I opened the first page of the book and began to read, Mina-chan waking up from her nap on my desk chair and coming over to curl up in my lap. My hand moved to lay on her stomach and she purred, the situation very peaceful.
I stayed like that for awhile and when it came to be about two thirty I got up and let Mina-chan outside to let her do her business. I got an apple and munched on it when I went back to reading.
The book was surprisingly really awesome and informative, as I now know how to infuse my Chakra into my tea and how to make my blankets conserve more warmth. Trying out the latter technique by focusing my Chakra into the fibers of my blanket, I felt the newly added warmth almost immediately. Taking in a deep breath, I leaned down more into my pillows and let the book fall onto my lap and I closed my eyes. My muscles relaxed and my mind was at ease.
Suddenly, there were three consecutive taps on my window.
My eyes snapped open and I looked around my room for the intruder. Finding no one and nothing, I got up and went to the source of the sound. Cautiously, so much that I was tempted to go grab a kunai knife from my ninja pack, I peaked my head over to the window only to find Ryuu, and two other boys.
With my muscles tight along with my face and my hands shaking, I lifted my window open. I didn't know if I was shaking because I was happy that Ryuu came to visit me, or because he had brought two other boys I don't even know.
I popped my head out of the window and I saw Ryuu wave at me.
"Hey!" he exclaimed while his friends did nothing. I slowly waved back, unsure of what to do. I just stood for a moment, analyzing the situation. Ryuu seemed to do the same.
After awhile, he spoke again.
"You gonna let us up or not?"
I noticed that he said up and no in, so I assumed he wanted to use my window. Considering that it was on the second story of my house, I was confused on how he was supposed to get up. Then I remembered that he was, in fact, a ninja just like I was.
Trying to open my window even more, I beckon from him and his "partners" to come up. I didn't even think about how weird it was that I was letting a boy I met the day before and two boys I've never seen in my life into my room.
They latch their feet onto the walls of my house and make their way up, walking horizontally up the wall. I smirked. I could do that too.
Ryuu entered first, swinging himself into the hall part of my bedroom, looking around. I stood by my bookshelf, my hands fiddling with the white skirt I was wearing. He looked at me and smiled making the butterfly army reinvade my stomach.
"Hey," he said roughly, and I blushed.
"Hi," I said back, smiling.
"I hope you don't mind that I brought my buds, yeah. They're cool people and won't try anything, I promise," he reassured me and I nodded, suddenly very sure of this whole situation.
'You can handle this, Fū, they're just males,' I tell myself and I take a deep breath. It's nothing to freak out about.
"Hahaha, that's what you think!" one of the boys yelled from the outside, and I was suddenly glad that my mother wasn't home then. This boy was loud.
My eyes widened when I processed what he said and I pulled down the long sleeves on my black tee shirt. They covered my wrists and I wished I could hide my whole body in them.
Ryuu saw my look and gave me another smile. "Don't worry, Fū, he was just kidding, yeah."
I laughed, covering my worry. "I know, I'm not stupid," I shot back, sitting down on my bed.
The two boys eventually pulled themselves into my room. I took this time to take in their appearance. One had long red hair, going down to his middle back, with freckles around his eyes and nose. His hair was tied into a pony tail and his skin was a nice tan.
The other one was a pale boy with short, cropped black hair and tattoo's along his arms. He came in last and saw me, giving me a smirk. I waved.
"Guys, this is Fū, the girl I met yesterday, the one I was telling you about," he spoke. I blushed. He had been talking about me.
"And Fū, this is Hotaka," he said, pointing to the red haired one, "and that's Sheiji," he said pointing to the black haired one.
I nodded. Why were they here?
Hotaka flopped down onto my desk chair, pulling out a kunai knife out of his pocket, making my reflexes jump and I stood up, looking at him. He chuckled.
"Calm down, girl, you're a ninja too," He said in a slightly dark way. I looked around his body for a ninja head band but found none. I was confused to what he meant but I decided not to question him. I shrugged my right shoulder, feeling my headband against my skin. I sighed. I could handle this.
"Soo..," I let out, unsure of what we were going to do. They looked at my questioningly. I shrugged, trying to say what I meant nonverbally. Ryuu seemed to catch my drift and sat down on the floor on the right side of my room, leaning against a free pace of wall. Seiji leaned against my bookshelf.
"So, Fū, what do you usually do here, all stuck up in this little house?" Ryuu asks, and I'm beginning to wonder if he figured out that I don't usually leave here much. I sighed.
"Read," I said boringly. Seiji snorted and I glared at him.
Ryuu snapped his hands together and looked at me. "Well," he started, "that's going to change,"
Looking at him questioningly, I stood up due to his hand grabbing mine. He pulled me down to the floor and then stood back up again. Flipping on my radio, music filled the room. He returned to his original position on the floor, adjacent to me. Seiji and Hotaka stayed where they were.
Somehow, things began to flow. Ryuu just started talking. He seemed as if we were best friends since birth. I didn't know how to react, so I basically just played along, but eventually I stopped pretending and actually talked to him. We talked about tons of things, like food, parents, school, shinobi and kunoichi, and music. He always had something to say, in a non-obnoxious way.
He didn't insult my music choices like I thought he would. I had imagined people neglecting and shooting down my musical choices and favoring because I didn't listen to the pop and crap they play in the village. But Ryuu liked it.
"Do you play an instrument?" I had asked, crossing my fingers that he said yes, particularly the piano.
He shook his head, to my disappointment.
"Nah, I'm more of a listener, yeah, not a player."
I didn't express my wanting of the ability to play the piano. I stayed silent.
After awhile, Seiji and Hotaka stopped being awkward and actually joined in on our conversations. I cleared my throat after about two hours of just conversing.
"Are you guys hungry? I think my mom just went grocery shopping…," I said, in hopes to get them out of my room. I was beginning to feel a bit claustrophobic from being confined in a normally small space for one person, but now with three others.
Seiji laughed and grabbed his stomach. "I could go for a huge bowl of ramen right now!" he exclaimed, standing straight up from his leaning position and heading towards the door. I stopped him in his tracks.
I looked at all of them.
"Do not touch anything," I said with confidence in my voice. I knew that if something were to break I wouldn't have the guts to tell my mother I had three boys in my house, and I'd probably tell her I broke it myself and I'd be yelled at. All in which I did not want to happen because my mother can be a controlling bitch sometimes.
The boys seemed un-phased. All three of them seemed to nod their head at the same time.
Ryuu let out a snort-laugh and sauntered up to me, latching his arm around my shoulders. I tried to keep my eyes normal.
"We won't break anything, Fū. You have nothing to worry about," He said with a slightly cocky attitude. I smiled at him and I realized that I didn't want to let this "friendship" of ours fall through. And if I didn't want that to happen then I couldn't and wouldn't tell him about my demon. I had to make sure he didn't find out from anyone else in the village, also.
"Hey…," I murmured, attempting to start the conversation.
He looked at me, his arm still around my shoulders. He didn't say anything.
"I'm not all that…popular…in the village…so..," I mumbled, trying to spit the words out.
Ryuu laughed, deep vibrations coming out of his chest. "Don't worry; I still think you're cool. It's not like I'm gonna go around bragging about you, yeah," he said normally.
I sweat dropped. That was charming.
"Haha…thanks..," I said uneasily, fiddling my fingers together some more.
My social skills weren't the best, but I still felt as if I should have some knowledge on how to deal with boys and just overall situations like these. I needed to get my point across, but I wasn't sure on how to do it. Being blunt is somewhat rude, while slowly nudging into may seem to be a bit annoying.
"But…really, I'm not a total dork..," I said, trying to seem confident with myself, not having a huge ego.
Ryuu seemed to agree. "Oh, I know, trust me, yeah," he mumbled, and I wondered what he meant by that.
"I just don't get along with people very well," I said.
"Well, I'm sure you're valuable to other people," he said, removing his arm from around my shoulder. I wondered what he meant by that. Valuable? I pondered his strange word choice.
"Yeah, my cat and my mom," I said nonchalantly, but Ryuu seemed to find this hilarious.
He let out a loud, slightly obnoxious laugh, the noise bouncing off the walls and cutting out the music still coming out of my bedroom. We had reached the living room, Seiji and Hotaka following right behind us. The boys seemed to be marveled by my house.
"Sweet T.V.!" Seiji complimented, not even stopping when he reached the base of the staircase, running across the hall and grabbing the arm rest of the couch in the living, pushing himself up into the air and catapulting himself onto the couch. Hotaka laughed and did the same.
My eyes bulged out of my head, and before I could stop myself, I yelled, "What the hell are you doing!"
The boys looked at me like deer in headlights.
"Watching television!" Seji exclaimed, and I fumed.
"What the fuck did I say about not touching anything?" I seethed, my hands balling up into fists.
My anger boiled inside of me. My eyes twitched and I felt the demon and it's charka pooling up in my stomach. I let out a huge breath, my nostrils flaring.
Hotaka put his hands in front of himself, Seiji following suit.
"Woah, woah woah, calm down," Hotaka said slowly, talking to me ask if I were a child. I got even angrier.
"Don't tell me what to do!" I exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at the boy. I didn't know why I was so angry.
"Fū, calm down, all they did was sit on your couch," Ryuu said soothingly, grabbing my fisted hands and flexing them out so they entwined with his. I sighed and closed my eyes.
It got to me again.
I usually didn't know whether or not I was angry because of the seven tails or because of my hormones. But today I did. I wasn't on my period, thank god (I'm a raging bitch at least once a month.), and I could feel the demon's chakra getting into my own.
But then again, this was why I hated humanity.
"But I told them not to!" I said, quieter than before. I felt the demon's energy leaving my body.
"I know, I know," Ryuu said, letting go of my fingers, "Guys, get off," He said, turning to his friends. They complied.
"Thank you," I breathed, my shot nerves turning back to normal.
"She's got some serious anger issues..," I heard Hotaka whisper to Seiji, but I decided not to reply for I wasn't supposed to hear. Ryuu and I moved on to the kitchen.
Opening the refrigerator, I pulled out some cartons of instant ramen, due to Seiji's comment a while back. Throwing the pack to said boy, I smirked, still having some resentment towards the boy due to his previous actions.
"Someone's feisty," he said with a sly smile on his face. I felt awkward at his expression, but threw one to Hotaka and Ryuu. Ryuu caught his and walked towards me, looking as if he had to say something.
"What time is it?" He asked. I smiled.
"About five, why?"
Ryuu cursed and set down his cup, his eyes shooting around the room. He stopped on me.
"Fū, I'm sorry, but I have to step out for a bit, but I'll be back within the hour," He said with an apologetic voice.
"Why-" He cut me off.
"I'll be back soon," He said and rain up the stairs, and I was confused for a moment, but then I remembered he probably wanted to leave the way he came in.
And then I was left alone with two boys.
"Soo…," Seiji started off, and I snorted.
"Eat your damn ramen," I commanded and Seiji replied. I suddenly wasn't very hungry.
It was an awkward couple of moments, watching the two boys eat. No one said anything and the only noise made was the sound of slurping and chopsticks. I sighed.
Seiji finished before Hotaka, practically vacuuming the whole pack down his throat. I was amazed at boy's abilities to eat. I would have only eaten one half of a pack in the time it took for him to finish his pack.
Hotaka finished a few minutes later and I had the honor of throwing away their meals.
"Where's the bathroom?" Hotaka and Seiji asked at the same time and I involuntarily let out a laugh.
"Uh..one's down the hall to your left, the other one is upstairs," I said, pointing to the said directions.
Hotaka got up and walked towards the hallway while Seiji followed me upstairs.
After dropping him off at the bathroom, I made my way back to my bedroom.
I sat down on my bed and looked up at my ceiling. What was I going to do now? I didn't know what to do with these two boys, and frankly, the only reason I let them stay was because Ryuu liked them. Now that Ryuu was gone, I had all the right to kick them out of my house, didn't I? I swallowed, wishing for Ryuu to return as quickly as possible.
I heard two toilets flush a couple seconds apart, and the bathroom across the hall's door opened, but I didn't bother to look in that direction. I stayed in my position on the bed.
I heard Seiji's feet pound across the floor to my bedroom, obviously looking for me. I waited for him to enter the room, but the footsteps stopped right before entering my room. I turned my head to go look for him.
But Seiji wasn't the one in the doorway. It was Hotaka standing there, somehow much taller than before. His expression was angry and dark and he looked at me with a nasty glare. He wielded a kunai knife in his hand, but didn't take a step forward.
"H-Hotaka?" I asked, standing up and bracing myself. Fear coursed through me and reached for my own weapons, but I remember I was in my regular clothes and I was without any means of protection. Taking in a deep breath, I said his name again.
I got no reply as Hotaka continued to stand in the hallway. I was worried and confused and I latched onto my bedspread, somehow planning to use it as a makeshift weapon. I suppose my lamp could have been a better idea.
All at once, Hotaka lunged at me, his kunai knife flying above his head, still in his hand. He reached me, pushing me to the ground in a loud "thump." I let out a grunt and wrapped both of my legs around his right one, pulling down harshly in an attempt to pull him off of me. With no result, I grabbed for his incoming hand holding the knife, and stopped him right before he slammed it into my face.
"What the hell are you doing!" I screamed at him, using all my strength to pull him away from me, for he was much stronger than I.
All of a sudden his body turned into a puff of smoke, blinding me. I still felt a body on top of me, but once the smoke had cleared, I saw a new person. This new being had shorter, cropped hair, similar to Seiji's, and the same color as before. His freckles disappeared and his eyes were upturned strangely.
'A shadow clone?' I thought, my eyes narrowing. I slid my legs higher up on his right one and pulled down once again, making the new person slide down my body, shoving the kunai knife into my side.
I hissed in pain, clutching my new wound. "Fuck," I whispered, my hands already covered in blood.
The man stood up and looked at my withering form, but I didn't give up. I saw Seiji enter the room, look at the new man, and poofed into another stranger. I wasn't surprised.
This new person had the same black cropped hair with an orange, swirling mask covering his face. Just then did I notice that both of them had matching clothing on. They were wearing long, black cloaks that reached just above their feet with high collars and red clouds sprinkled over the cloak as a design.
The red haired one laughed. "This one was easier than I expected," he said, still looking down at me.
"Hehehehe, the leader will be so proud of our timing!" The black haired one said cheerfully and I wanted to spit on him.
Fusing all my will together, I pushed myself painfully off of the floor in a quick moment, somehow catching to two off guard. I ran towards them, my fist high in the air, and let out my fury. I lightly skinned the red haired one's cheek, his leg coming up and hitting me in the gut. I groaned in pain but didn't fall to the floor.
I considered running across the hall and jumping out my bedroom window, but I knew I wouldn't land correctly due to my bleeding form and probably shatter my legs.
I brought my leg up and kicked the black haired one in the stomach, sending him flying into the wall. I let out a small triumphant smile. The red haired one went to grab another kunai knife and I took this opportunity to try to land a punch to his face.
My hand was caught in his before I reached his face, so I tried my other hand, but that was caught as well. We were stuck in a standstill.
The black haired one was back up, now with a kunai knife, and due to my stuck position, he kicked me in my legs and sent me down to the floor. The red haired one dropped his kunai knife when I fell, so I reached for it and threw it up into the air, trying to aim for their heads, but I was blinded by anger and pain.
My floor was covered in blood, coming from the large gash in my side and the black haired one's newly bleeding mouth. The knife I threw missed completely and was now implanted into the wall.
A third person came in through the window, and I hoped to god it was Ryuu.
"Ah, great," the red haired one said in response to the new person and I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.
I could tell the new person was looking at me. "Good job, yeah," he said and I froze. Was that Ryuu?
I felt the new person tug on the collar of my long sleeved shirt, pulling me up off the floor by my neck. I coughed in pain and had trouble breathing. He pulled me all the way up to the point that my feet weren't touching the floor. I squeezed my eyes shut so I didn't have to look my capturer in the eye.
"Look at me," he said and I slowly opened one eye. With my poor vision I saw a mop of blonde hair and the same cloak as the others, but nothing else. I decided to open both eyes.
With further evaluation, I saw a man, a few years older than me, with long blonde hair tied into a half pony tail with bangs covering one of his eyes. He had teal colored eyes and a very bored expression on his face.
"Did you really have to stab her? She's probably going to die on us, yeah," He said with no emotion whatsoever. I heard my blood dripping to the floor.
"Sorry, she fought back," The red haired one said.
The blonde one just looked at me, and I looked back, trying to put as much hatred in my eyes as possible. He let out a laugh at my expression, and my rage returned and I brought my knee up, kicking him straight in his family jewels.
He dropped me to the ground and let out a loud groan, crouching down slightly, shutting his eyes. I took this time to move on to the other two, but they had already been prepared as they were holding respective weapons, running towards me and keeping me down on the ground.
The red haired one grabbed my arm and yanked me up harshly, twirling the kunai around his hand and stabbing it into my other side. I screamed out in pain and attempted to kick him in the nards too, but failed.
"You can't do two tricks twice, little girl," he said, dropping me to the floor, and this time I stayed there.
The blonde one seemed to regain his strength and stood in front of me, along with the two others. I looked up at them through clouded eyes.
"F-Fuck you," I spit out, blood seeping out of my mouth. I knew I was going to die if I didn't get medical attention soon, demon or not.
"Such a pretty mouth," the masked one said, leaning down by my side. I collected all the blood and saliva in my mouth and spit it onto his face, aiming for his one eye hole. I missed.
"EEEEW!" The masked one exclaimed, trying to wipe it off of his face while the other two sighed. I smirked.
"Can we just get out of here, yeah?" The blonde one asked, folding his hands over his chest.
'No, no, no!' I suddenly wished for them to kill me and not take them with them, because I could deal with death. I didn't want to spend any more time with these people.
The red one nodded, and leaned down at my side. I was still clutching my side, my shirt and skirt now damp in my blood. I struggled to breath.
Not looking me in the eye, the red haired one lifted up his hand and struck it to the back of my neck. My eyes widened and I got one last glimpse of the blonde haired one before everything disappeared.
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11 pages and 5,214 words later, this baby came out. I am proud.
Finished on January 22, 2011. Now I'm gonna go clean my room!
POSTED on June 19th hahahahaha I'm sorry world.
The next chapter is completely done if that makes you happy!