Clean yourself up.
Hotaru hung upside from a tree, blood rushing to her head. This should be a quick way to die... "Who?" she opened her eyes from her concentrated face to see the dusty brown owl perched in a tree across from her. The owl fluttered its chest to make all its feather busy then proceeded to clean its wings, pecking at each individual feather. Maybe I should clean myself up some...stop my childish ways, but I'm only sixteen, not like I'm twenty. Ugh, the decisions.
With a single thrust upward from her body she flung up then a back flip landed her successfully on the ground. She studied the owl and it stared right back still cleaning its feathers. "Who?" she batted her eyes then sighed and trailed back home. She entered her house late enough to where her parents were sleep, she wasn't angry...just disappointed. Her teammates were already off and doing their duty to protect their land and what was she doing?
"I'm just hanging around with an owl!" she scream in her pillow as soon as she threw herself into her bed. She flipped over and stared at her white walls, she was surrounded by them and it seemed like forever. A little digital clock read 1:23AM, maybe she should get some rest for the day later on but she wasn't too excited. She sat up and shuffled into her restroom to brush her teeth and prepare for bed.
As she cleaned her self up, she stood in the mirror and examined herself. A normal teen, dark hair dark eyes with a petite frame, standing at 5'3 she doubt she would gain any height no time soon, it seemed permanent. With nothing but a black sports bra and spanky shorts, she started her water for a night shower and brushed her teeth. She looked at her sun colored skin, a nice tan girls would like but she wanted more. Battle wounds, scars, maybe even stitches to show she fought for something.
"This guy I'll be working with..." she mumbled in the shower, "just a week then I'll be free from being under someone...I'm already under my parents, not cool." lather and rinse, she cleaned her already clean body. She stared to imagine herself on a C ranked mission performing a transformation jutsu or a clone jutsu.
She clenched the face towel in her hand, "Ima chuunin and I will prove it!" she pulled back the curtain and came face to face with huge eyes. "Who?" She fell with a yelp, along with pulling the shower curtain down and the water soaked her hair.
"You and your constant questions...guess i'll just go to sleep." she got dressed for bed and tumbled into bed, the owl peered at her from the window then floated away into the night sky.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! 11:30AM
"YOU'RE KIDDING ME!" she screamed flying up like a possessed zombie. It had felt like she hadn't even gotten any sleep. She slowly crept out of bed and sunk to the floor, she had to wake up. Wiping the sleep out of her eyes she rummaged in her dresser drawers for a simple outfit, no need for cool ninja clothes.
She headed toward the village around mid-noon with a simple pink fitted tank top and knee length black shorts with her headband sitting on her waist. Her pink ankle sandals fit the dirt pavement as she approached the Academy slowly but surely. She sat on a bench and started to pick at her nails, she might paint them since now she won't be a ninja at the moment and chipped nails won't exist.
She noticed a little kid passing by, playing with his watch in his hands. She called out and asked nicely what time it was but steam blew through her ears when he said 2:12pm. She had been sitting for nearly an hour and a half waiting on this guy to appear. The moment she stood up, a flash appeared in the distance sitting on the ground then fell back to look at the sky, "Sorry I'm late, slept in...ate...slept some more..."
"...its okay I guess," she unclenched her fist and walked over toward the lazy shinobi. She stood over him and it was as if he looked straight through her. He begin to talk, his deep voice vibrated from the ground to her chest but she wasn't listening. Instead she caught herself daydreaming but in a glaze looking at the grass. She snapped, "Okay! No more waiting, what are we going to do!"
"...no need to be troublesome..." he murmured. He yawned loudly and slowly sat up, slumping onto his knees.
Hotaru studied him then shrugged, well he is lazy...thanks Lady Tsunade. She took a deep breath then spoke, "So you can teach at an academy, or do what the hokage wants...even do missions." he slowly nodded then bowed his head down. She looked at the Academy, would she want to teach kids. She looked over at the lair where missions were assigned, would she wanna be an errand girl. Then she glanced at the direction where the gates stood, that's something she couldn't do. Shikamaru stood up and glanced at her for a quick second, shoved his hands in his pocket then looked back toward the village.
"Lets walk." he confirmed.
As they walked the village, Shikamaru mumbled different things, but of course...Hotaru didn't pay any mind. She was slightly jealous he could do so many things and she just sat at home, talked to an owl at night and seemed to lose all of her ninja training skills. "Shikamaru?" He looked over at her. She clasped her hands together, "Though I can not go on missions, instead of this show and tell assignment for the day...lets train."
His head knocked over and leaned toward his left shoulder, eyes shut tightly and groaned, "troublesome women..." can't follow rules, directions, I won't get in trouble for this. He looked at her as he fixed himself up, she had this determined look on her face. Though she can't go on missions, it wouldn't hurt to see what she was all about. I guess this won't harm anything. They headed toward a forest on the outskirts of the village and Hotaru smiled with excitement.
"okay, get ready..." Hotaru crouched into a simple taijutsu stance and smirked in a serious matter causing Shikamaru to actually stand up straight on his tree from his slouch. She ran towards him.
CLINK! CLINK! CLINK!
The sound of metal clashing together was overheard by a girl with short pink hair as she passed by holding a small basket with various flowers and grass. Hotaru flipped her wrist and threw a kunai but Shikamaru easily and lazily dodged it. He yawned then abruptly crouched down causing the dark haired girl to stop in her tracks from the constant run she had. The girl squinted her eyes and walked over to see who Shikamaru was holding with his shadow jutsu.
"Shikamaru! Hey!" The girl stopped mid-sentence noticing his prey, "H-Hotaru..." dark eyes met her light green eyes. Her frozen expression turned into a slight smile.
Hotaru slumped backward and cleaned up her sweat from her forehead pushing her blunt bangs away. She was breathing heavily and glanced at her body, not a scratch on her. She struggled the entire fight but not a weapon touched her, Shikamaru chose not to injure her. She wearily stood up as Shikamaru stood up and smirked a tiny smirk but it changed into the emotionless look he was probably born with.
"Sakura, what brings you are the area?" He asked firmly.
"I was gathering material to perform an antidote and well, curiosity got the best of me!" She beamed with a slight blush glancing over at the tired chuunin.
Hotaru brushed dirt off of her, "Its been a while..." she rubbed her arm slightly embarrassed. Even Sakura goes on missions and is a medical ninja. And i'm just here...taking up air. "I'm glad to see you've been doing well in the village too!" she put on a fake smile, still tired. She noticed Shikamaru did not look at her once, didn't break a sweat, didn't waste no more than two weapons.
"We have to catch up one day! My home is the same from when we were younger, stop by and we can hang out if we're not busy...gotta go!" Sakura seemed so happy with her life, she pranced away making sure no valuable items in her basket spilled. Her thoughts consumed her as she left the small arena, She still hasn't been on a mission...
Shikamaru finally looked over, feeling her huge deer shaped eyes glaring on him. He didn't hurt her so if she were to go home, no questions would be asked...she just simply tired herself out. Her kunai were scattered in trees and on the ground, he still kept his concealed in his weapon satchel; all but two, each on the ground. "You okay?"
All she could do was nod, she felt so defeated and weak. Her skills were done, that's what she told herself in her head over and over. She had no choice but to live the simple life now. Her spark in determination disappeared, she didn't want to be a ninja anymore. She untied her headband, Shikamaru eyed her strongly. "I don't want to live the simple life as a ninja, I can do that without being one." she said softly to herself.
"Relax," That's all he had to say. His words so abrupt and short, she cocked her head in confusion like a little puppy and reflected on the day. The sky began to change colors indicating to go home. A yawn from the groggy boy snapped her back into reality, "Anything else you need?"
Hotaru stood still then slowly walked up toward him then met him shoulder to shoulder, "I'm not even sure what I want to do anymore."
As she walked away toward her home, she didn't want to hang out with the owl. She wanted to eat, shower, think and sleep. A pungent smell filled her nose, nothing but sweat from her body. She wasn't clean but wasn't the type of dirty she would want to claim. Shikamaru shrugged and before he vanished he spoke, "See you tomorrow right here. Noon."
Hotaru gave no acknowledgment and took her walk of shame home, but her head was held high.
OKAY! That's chapter two :) R&R and now its time for you guys to start plotting the story yourselves, give feed back and i'll put it in the story, doesn't matter what it is