Chapitre One: Land of Beginnings
"GOOD MORNING, HIKARI-CHAN!!"
Aizawa Hikari jumped out of bed with a shout and landed spectacularly: face-first on the floor. She rolled over, rubbing her forehead, which had smacked the bedpost on the way down.
"Nozomi-chaaaan…" she whined, pouting. Terihaeru Nozomi laughed even more, and helped the poor, hapless Hikari to her feet. The girl wore another of her strange, hand-made outfits, purple- and white-striped, which consisted of trailing detached sleeves, a wrinkly purple skirt that showed quite a bit of her midriff between itself and the top, and rounded purple boots, their tops barely reaching her ankles. On top of her head, adorning her long, black hair, was a matching purple cap that somewhat resembled a cross between an overlarge beret and one of those flat salad bowls used in the café downstairs.
"You forgot, didn't you? I knew you did," Nozomi lectured as she watched Hikari rummage through her drawer, looking for something to wear.
"Forgot what? It's not my birthday," Hikiari said, "because I usually forget that, but it was several months ago." Then she froze. "You don't mean I forgot…?!"
"You dope! Today's the day that everyone who graduated the academy gets assigned to a cell! It's one of the most important days in your entire Kuonichi career and you completely forgot! Here, put this on."
Hikari took the slightly bulky package and started pulling out suspiciously familiar clothing items.
"Hey, this is the outfit you were using me as a dummy for, isn't it?!" Inwardly, Hikari sighed at having to wear another infamous Nozomi-designed costume, and on the day they met their cell mentor, no less.
"Stop thinking that. You have my assurance that it is very cute. I had to put some finishing touches on it, so I asked you to come over. Put it on, hurry!" That's right. Nozomi had told Hikari to stop thinking. Nozomi was an unusually gifted girl—she heard others' thoughts in the same way that normal people heard voices, and felt their emotions similar to winds of various temperatures. Naturally privy to others' thoughts and emotions, she was an invaluable moderator in disputes, not to mention perfect ANBU interrogator material. The Black Ops already had agents visiting her home and trying to persuade her to that particular career. Nozomi, who fought for peace and never to kill, politely refused them all and redirected them to her sister, a slightly more violent girl who saw possible futures in dreams.
Hikari obediently pulled on the uncomfortably low-cut outfit: first a dark purple low-cut long-sleeved shirt and tights. Then a metal guard strapped over her shoulders and around her back. Over that was a light blue kimono-type thing with no sleeves to speak of, cut maybe at best to her thighs, and, causing her to sigh deeply, even more low cut than the metal (on the back of this was an emblem of crossed black and white wings). All this tied with a purple obi. On her hands went gloves that almost reached the nonexistent sleeves of the kimono (open-fingered), and Nozomi's fashionable (Hikari wondered about that part) take on the traditional Shinobi boots: a purple and white thing with silver buttons up the side. Hikari tied her hite-ate on and looked in the mirror. The clothes were… cold… up top, but acceptable, even conservative, compared to what some of her classmates were prone to wearing. Especially Pai. Only fifteen and already in nothing but a bikini and armor.
"And for the finishing touch," Nozomi announced, tying a purple choker around her friend's neck, from which dangled a gold pendant in the shape of a wing, replacing the blue ribbon she generally wore to hide her only valuable item from the world: a rare blue crystal held to her neck by several thin lines of solid gold wire. "Perfect! You look marvelous! You are a designer's dream, Hikari-chan!"
"…Right…"
"Now, let's go! We can still make it if we run!"
And thus, a new day in Leaf Village began with two best friends dashing for their lives down the street, so as to avoid being late for meeting their teams.
"I had another strange dream last night," Hikari said, taking deep breaths as she ran.
"Was it about penguins, like the last three?" Nozomi asked with a laugh, easily keeping stride.
"No. I can't really remember the details, but--!" She seemed to vanish in front of Nozomi's eyes.
"Hikari-chan!"
"Anyway…" Hikari said, looking up from the ground. She had tripped on a crack in the sidewalk.
"Geez, Hikari-chan, what are we going to do with you?" Nozomi pulled her friend back on her feet and they resumed their pace and conversation.
"It was all reddish-brown, I think. And it had something to do with a Wave. Oh, and a tower."
"What is a Wave? Like at the beach?" Nozomi asked.
"No, I think it had something to do with chakra. Mabye," Hikari said, "Gah! I'm still confused over it! Oh. We're here already?" They looked up to see the somewhat battered school building, in place ever since the creation of the village, looming over them. Then they glanced at their watches.
"Holy timewarp! We're gonna be late!"
Hikari and Nozomi stumbled in through the door, where their other classmates were waiting.
"Hmph. Slowpokes," came a voice from the back row. Nozomi and Hikari both looked up as a boy detached himself from a crowd of admirers and rivals to greet them.
"Hey, Kujaku-kun! Sorry, um… Nozomi-chan had to wake me up this morning…" Aku-chi Kujaku extended a fist to them, his black hair still tied back in a ponytail, purple eyes gleaming with mischief. He was decked out in red, black, and silver, with chains and symbols of a flame and dagger-shaped ice crossed, designed by Nozomi, of course. Both girls met his fist with their own in greeting.
"No worries. Iruka-sensei isn't here yet. You're safe."
"Oh, Iruka-sensei!" Nozomi exclaimed, looking behind them. Kujaku and Hikari both jumped; Hikari tripped afterwards and landed on her face.
"Get in your seats, you three. Looks like we might finally break up the Twilight Brigade once and for all." The three looked at each other and gulped. Midori Atoli, Tsukuyomi Haseo, and Suwa Kurogane, also Twilight Brigade members (Kurogane and Haseo were division leaders), looked around anxiously from their seats in front.
The year that Hikari had arrived in Leaf, missing half her memory and very dazed, she joined the small group, Twilight Brigade (started by a Genin named Kohonomaru during his Academy days and was originally called the Kohonomaru Corps). It was an organization dedicated to solving the mysteries of Kohona Village. It had even earned a sort of respect by having its very own corner of the class, where they could hold meetings and nobody bothered them.
Little did they know that this tiny group of students would eventually span all of the classes of the Ninja Academy, and even in the ninja ranks as far as Chunin. Hikari's knack for inventing immediately threw her up in the ranks to Auto-Mail (2nd Division, known for its large content of grease monkeys and mecha otaku) leader. The leader of Harvest Light (3rd Division, mostly support-type ninja and those studying to be medics) was Nozomi, who soon became Hikari's best friend in the whole world. After that, more and more students joined, including Kujaku, recruited by Nozomi herself. In those few months he worked all the way up to the leader of Flamberge (5th Division, mainly the hothead-types who liked to attack first). Villagers could always tell a T. Brigade member because of the painted decorations on their faces or arms. Each division had its own symbol and color, so they painted their division on themselves as a form of ranking. And, of course, all division leaders had their clothes made by Nozomi, which is why they stood out so much.
Rarely seen alone, Hikari, Nozomi, and Kujaku were notorious among and outside of the Brigade for unintentionally messing up yards, workplaces, and basically getting underfoot while searching for clues to the various mysteries that needed solving. Only Hikari, who worked part-time at a café, was seen often without the other two.
"All right. Time to announce the cells. Cell One for this year is…" Hikari, Nozomi, Kujaku, and some of the other T. Brigade members spent the time scribbling notes to each other, one of which read:
Hi- I hope I end up in a cell with at least one of you guys…
N- me too.
Kuj- Yeah. Do you think we'll be able to keep the T. Brigade in touch?
Hi- I already have a solution for that.
Kuro- Your latest invention?
Hi-
At- Oh, it's those little walkie-talkies you showed me! You have one for every member?!
Hi- You bet! I gave them all out the last day of school. I've been working on the Division Leaders' last, because they have extra functions.
Kuro- o. Ok. What sort of functions?
Hi- Recording sound, storing data, taking chakra signatures for tracking, calling Dragonflys, taking pictures, etc. Useful stuff. Oh, and you can send out a distress signal to any T. B. member, and use it as a light.
N- Sounds nifty. What do the others' do?
Ha- the light, signal, recording sound and pictures. Basic things. Silabus-kohai showed me. So. I heard that in addition to the Konoha branches, the T.B. now has a Suna branch as well?
N- Yes. AIDA leader Yata-senpai did a mission in Suna and ended up starting a few branches there.
Kuro- So how many divisions do we have again?!
Ha- I think we have about 15.
Kuj- Oy vey… why can't we just come up with a good ranking system and leave it at the original 7 divisions?!
At that point, Kurogane (Miko's Dogs (6th Division) leader), in his usual black yukata and hakama, with the black crescent moon on a red background as his family's sign, and wearing his sword, Sohi, belted at his waist, was called for cell 4, along with Terihaeru Tomoyo, Nozomi's identical twin sister; and with some odd twist of fate, Kurogane's Second (in command), Li Syaoran, a sinewy boy with brown hair and amber eyes, blind in one, about whom not much else was known than an interest in archaeology.
Right afterward, Haseo of the Azure Scythe (Azure (7th Division) leader) wearing a black belted shirt, pants, gloves, and boots, with white hair and red eyes, was called with Atoli from Harvest Light, who had short sand-blonde hair and blue eyes, and wore a pale green dress, bloomers, a round hat with a tassel, and heels (not exactly practical, Hikari thought, shaking her head). Accompanying them was Pai, in tight, extremely revealing dark red clothes, armored gloves, and high boots. Her long pink hair was done in whip-like pigtails, and her red-pink eyes gazed coldly over her classmates. Pai was a hotshot from The First (1st Division had no nickname), who made it a point to scold (and sometimes punish) those who misbehaved when Iruka was absent from the room. As a rule, she didn't socialize with anyone but her brother, Khun, except on business.
Nozomi projected to Hikari and Kujaku a single thought: Tomoyo-chan's going to kill poor Kurogane-kun.
"Finally, only two cells left." The remaining eight genin all looked around nervously. At least half the group were rivals with one another, and they all knew that two would be going home to wait for the next class's extras.
"Cell Thirteen is… kami above…! What were they thinking?!" Iruka sighed, and read the names off the list: "Aku-chi Kujaku, Terihaeru Nozomi, and… Aizawa Hikari." A cheer erupted from the Twilight Brigade, especially for Hikari, who was well liked but often worried the others with her abysmal Phys-Ed grades.
Almost immediately after the last group was announced, the mentors started to walk in. One by one, the cells left with their new mentors. Soon, only Hikari's and Haseo's cells were left waiting. They sat in silence for a half hour, until Iruka packed up his materials and left for the day. Then they played poker, with candy as the prize. And told ghost stories; Hikari cowered in a corner and covered her ears, lest she have nightmares. And built a human ladder to peek in the class above by leaning out the window, which nearly resulted in a catastrophe when someone decided to open it just as they got a good grip on the sill. And afterwards they did something quiet for once, and played Mahjong (which Nozomi, by some instinct, had brought to pass time). Thus when the mentor for cell 9 walked in, he arrived to the shuffling of tiles across the floor.
Everyone looked up, including Pai (who was tall, but still sitting in order to play). The ninja stared down on them with an expression of mild-interest-despite-having-just-woken-up-five-minutes-ago. Hikari could not tell if he was bored, asleep on his feet, drunk, or some mixture of the three, and seemed incredibly sloppy with his hite-ate hanging over one eye like it just fell that way and he never bothered to fix it. They couldn't infer much by the clothing, either; this ninja didn't differ from any of the others of the upper ranks, since there were very few shinobi (besides prodigy-type exceptions) that, by the time they finally reached Chunin rank, wanted to wear anything distinctive beyond the usual cargo vest, sweats, and wraps. The only difference was that he covered half of his face (over half, if one included the sloppy headband). Why? Hikari wondered, Is he scared of people or something? His hair, long and silver, fell everywhere. The one visible eye was currently fixed on the mahjong game. Hikari got the impression that under the mask, he was smiling at the oddity of young people playing a game from a much older generation.
"Mahjong is traditionally played in the Rice Fields country during funerals," he said by way of introduction. "There, it is believed that the sound of the shuffling tiles calms the dead spirit and sends it safely to the next life." Hikari shivered, Nozomi patted her gently on the shoulder with a consoling smile, and everyone else just sat there with dumb looks.
"Didn't know they increased the cell size to six. Looks like they want us to keep busy this year." He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I'm you cell mentor, Hatake Kakashi-san. Now, if you will follow me… Yes, what is it, um…"
"Atoli, Kakashi-sensei. There's, um… two cells here." Atoli looked up innocently, giving a hopeful smile. Pai huffed in annoyance and crossed her arms. Haseo simply rolled his eyes.
"Oh?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow, looking over the intermixed groups: thin, wiry Haseo, sitting next to the more muscular Kujaku, who wore an expression of absolute loathing towards someone in the group, though not directed to the former; short, stick-like Atoli, innocent and obviously naïve to a fault; serene, slightly amused Nozomi, still trying to dispel her friend's threatening nightmare; cheery, energetic Hikari, the one whom the nightmare was threatening, and the main topic of discussion among the upper-level shinobi, though not for her rumored mechanical genius; and cold, uber-logical Pai, who sat haughtily, believing herself the sole voice of reason in the world.
"You're not the only one late," Haseo said, leaning back against a step.
"So what cells are you?"
"Nine and Thirteen."
"I'm here for Nine. Cell Nine, follow me." Haseo, Pai, and Atoli rose and followed Kakashi out of the room.
"Good luck," Haseo called back to cell Thirteen. Thirteen returned the well-wishes to their friends as door closed. A moment of awkward silence passed over…
"Hey, Hikari-chan, wasn't that just…?"
"Yeah, you're right! Hatake Kakashi-san, the ninja infamous for failing every cell he's ever mentored!" Hikari exclaimed to Nozomi.
"Except one," Kujaku muttered, "Too bad we couldn't have been older. Then our cell would have been the first. I wonder if they got a trophy." He sighed wistfully and flopped backward onto the floor, purposefully ignoring its hardness. "Great. Now we're really all alone. You know what? I'm getting annoyed at this mentor dude. Why don't we take a really chalky eraser and…"
"Forget it, Kujaku-kun. That's the perfect way to end your career before you even start it… Ohmigosh, what if we get someone really strict?!" Hikari worried.
"What if we get a pervert?" Nozomi thought in return.
"What if he's a lazy bum?!"
"What if he doesn't take us seriously?!"
"What if he doesn't show up because he forgets about us?!"
"What if he doesn't show up at all because he thinks we're hopeless?!"
"What if your fears are completely baseless and he appears within the next five minutes and turns out entirely normal?!" Kujaku snapped. "Let's just play some more Mahjong. Winner gets the jawbreakers and a medal."
The girls groaned and turned to reshuffling the tiles, keeping the rest of their silent fears to themselves.
Stats Report:
Party formed: Kujaku (Twin Blade), Nozomi (Wavemaster), Hikari (Gunner)!
Kujaku has been promoted!
Nozomi has been promoted!
Hikari has been promoted!
Kujaku has earned the title "Treasure Hog"!
Nozomi has earned the title "Best Friend"!
Hikari has earned the title "Klutz"!
Hi! It's great to be back writing for everyone again! You may wonder why everything is so odd right now. You're probably wondering about the unrelated characters popping up everywhere, too. The deal is, I needed names and faces. They won't become major characters (I hope!), but they do play a few roles in the plot. Now, if this were a video game, the opening for part one would be Spica, by Maaya Sakamoto. Part two would have Heaven's Not Enough, from Wolf's Rain. Part three's opening would be Almateria, from the Tales of Symphonia anime (even though the language is supposedly made up, it's still good). Yeah, I tend to do things in threes, don't I? Please give me ideas! I've got a rough outline for the plot but it literally is only the framework! I can't wait to see your suggestions!
Omake Time!
The Twilight Brigade
Kohona Branch
Division One (The First)
Emblem: Chakra Swirl on an orange background
Symbol: Red spiral on the left shoulder
Leader (Twilight Brigade Leader): Kohonomaru (Shinobi)
Second: unknown
Members: Pai (Tribal Grappler), Jinx (Ranger), Udon (Wavemaster), Rue Ryuzaki (Informant)
Division Two (Auto-Mail)
Emblem: Black and white crossed wings on a blue background
Symbol: Two green bands on each upper arm.
Leader: Aizawa Hikari (Gunner/Mechanic)
Second: unknown
Members: Winry (Mechanic), Silabus (Blade Brandier)
Division Three (Harvest Light)
Emblem: Yellow staff on a white background
Symbol: Purple "collar" around the neck
Leader: Terihaeru Nozomi (Wavemaster)
Second: Haruno Sakura (Medic/Tribal Grappler)
Members: Atoli (Wavemaster), Terihaeru Tomoyo (Dream Seer), Hyuuga Hinata (Medic)
Division Four (AIDA)
Emblem: Gold Ouroboros on a pale blue background
Symbol: an orange eye, vertical, on the forehead
Leader: Yata-sempai (Macabre Dancer)
Second: Ovan-sempai (Gunner)
Members:
Division Five (Flamberge)
Emblem: The legendary sword Flamberge on a dark purple background
Symbol: Red flame on the right shoulder
Leader: Aku-chi Kujaku (Twin Blade)
Second: unknown
Members: Inuzuka Kiba (Wilds Fighter)
Division Six (Miko's Dogs)
Emblem: A black dragon.
Symbol: Black moon on the back of the left hand
Leader: Suwa Kurogane (Blade Brandier)
Second: Kinomoto Syaoran (Blade Brandier)
Members: Rock Lee (Tribal Grappler), Aburame Shino (Wilds Fighter)
Division Seven (Descendants of Fianna, also called Azure to save time)
Emblem: A blue triangle-shaped mark on a tan background.
Symbol: Blue lightning-shaped marks over each eye
Leader: Haseo of the Azure Scythe (Adept Rogue)
Second: Tenten of the Azure Sword (Adept Rogue)
Members: Kuhn of the Azure Wolf (Gunner), Balmung of the Azure Sky (Blade Brandier), Orca of the Azure Sea (Edge Punisher)
Suna Branch
Division Eight (Desert Storm)
Division Nine (Cobalt Knights)
Division Ten (Moon Tree)
Division Eleven (Efreet)
Division Twelve (Landspeeder)