It's Piper! :D I'm really tired today, and I only have one chapter for y'all. I really hope it's good, but I'd get a better idea if you would TELL me whether or not it's good...nicely, though. :o

Chapter Six: Bell Test and a (not-so-long) Dinner Wait

I was hardly surprised when Kakashi caught me at the bridge, his uncovered eye grinning, "I am not intimidated by the monotone, but I'm not sure if that's because I have a similar problem to yours," he announced, falling into step beside me as we continued down the walk, "but I am interested in whether or not your team is going to pass the test."

"Should I go easy on them?"

"No. As long as they figure it out, they pass. They don't really need to get the bells. Oh, and bring something to do, because they usually don't figure it out for the first few hours. Try that new jutsu out on one of them and see what happens," he was becoming excited, like a child. I didn't bother to tell him that I hadn't finished it yet.

"Kakashi! Fight me like a man!" I knew it was Gai because, I mean, who else sounds like that? Or looks like that? I turned around and he was standing, so painfully proud in his horrid green jumpsuit. And it was such a wonderful sight that I wanted to run and jump into his arms like a small child.

So I did.

"Who is that?" He asked me between laughs, pushing my hair from my face, "thanks for coming to see me straight away, Aya-chan. It's not like you've been here a month or anything. As you might know, youth waits for none."

I laughed as he let me down and replied grinning, "I still don't have any clue what you're saying, but I did miss you. I was just scared."

It was Gai's turn to laugh now, and Kakashi just stood a distance away, watching bemusedly. "What were you scared of? That I wouldn't accept you back?" I nodded, "I have decided that our competition can save itself for another day, Kakashi, for this afternoon I have chosen to bask in youthfulness with my newly recovered comrade."

"Okay," Kakashi said with a shrug, "see ya, Ayame," he turned on his heel and disappeared, and Gai took me back to the bar—not the one that I had drunk at the first night, but a special one, in the heart of the village, that only accepted Jounin and ANBU, along with up to two other guests, as long as those two guests were either genin or chunin.

I had done my best to avoid this particular bar, because it was the kind of place that was impossible to go to without seeing at least three people that you knew. I showed the bouncer my ANBU shoulder tattoo on our way in, and he let me in without an ID.

"I'm not going to drink," I said, sitting down beside him at the bar, "tomorrow is an important day. It's bell tests with my new squad…and I'm broke."

Gai laughed out loud, putting one hand on my shoulder in excitement, "I had heard that you were assigned a squad," he was served a large mug of sake and I instantly regretted not ordering my own drink, even though I was still devoid of money.

"So I heard you escaped from me," said Ibiki, appearing suddenly beside me with neck-breaking speed, "wise plan, though. You're not the first one who pulled that on me. It was your father's idea, though, wasn't it?"

I grinned over at him, feeling awkward with no drink in my hand, "don't believe I'm smart enough to think something like that up?"

"Oh, I thoroughly believe that you're smart enough. That just doesn't seem so much…your style. How's the Hakaisha-Karasu doing?"

I kept my voice sweet, "I don't know, maybe I should show you."

"That's your problem, Fujioka," he said, jabbing me hard in the collarbone, "you're all talk and nothing else," his eyes were dark, "you could never unleash the Hakaisha-Karasu on somebody you hated, much less me."

"Well who's to say I don't hate you?"

"Bullshit," he said, slamming his fist down on the counter, "there's only one person you hate," his eyes had a dark, almost evil flash to them. It scared me, "and I think we both know who that person is. You need to face life like the ninja that you are, Fujioka, and stop this god-awful unintelligent self-indulgence, because—"

"I dare say that you have said your part, Ibiki," a smooth voice interrupted. Gai had turned to speak to a friend on the other side of him, and I was beginning to tremble beneath Ibiki's words, partially because they were all true. I turned away from Ibiki, allowing him to be scolded by—Yamato!

It was amazing how much I wanted to jump on him, and squeeze him around the shoulders like the best friend of mine that he was, because if somebody had asked me who my best friend of all time was, it would easily be him, "Yamato," I said, and there was suddenly a grin on my face as his almond-shaped eyes settled on mine, his expression almost rueful.

"I was told you were here," he said, sitting beside me in Ibiki's vacated spot, leaning into my huge hug, his hands feeling nice and protective on my back, "so I decided to come over and see my best friend who's been avoiding me for a month."

I laughed at that, "sorry. Just ask around: I've been avoiding everyone. You know I'm a little anti-social creature, right?" He shrugged, "so what have you been up to lately?"

"Well, I'm engaged for one thing," he said, his expression nervous for some reason. Like he thought I might be jealous.

"That's awesome! Who's the lucky man?" I decided to turn it into a joke, mainly to show Yamato that I wasn't feeling threatened by his taking a wife.

"Ha-ha," he said sarcastically, "and you wouldn't know her."

We talked for a while more before I realized that I would have to be at the training ground for four o'clock the next morning, and that the person that I had come with was Gai. So we said our goodbyes, he laughed at the fact that I had a squad (the same as every single other person's reply) and I went back to spend my four hours of sleep in Jiraiya's apartment.

Naturally, when I woke up, I couldn't find any books that I wanted to read in Jiraiya's inventory, and no bookstores would be open at three-thirty in the morning, so I just grabbed one of those icha-icha books that I saw people reading all over the place. It would be nice to finally read something written by my father.

All three of my squad were already at the training ground when I arrived, groping around in my waist pouch for the two bells that had been given to me. Explain the task and tell them to go.

Kakashi was right: it was boring. I leaned up against a tree with the book, and found it both hard and easy to believe that Jiraiya would write something like this. It was right up his alley, and I had to admit that it was pretty funny.

In the meantime, the three of them moved around, trying to conceal themselves. They were doing a pretty shitty job, though. Izumi and Riku were in neighboring bushes, and Kyou was poised up in the branches of my tree, getting ready to strike. It was easy to percept her motions and as she leapt from the tree, I swatted her down easily with one hand.

Lunch came and went, along with another hour and a half before Riku finally realized what they were supposed to do. I was a good half-way through the novel by that point, but perked my ears to listen to him, doing a snake seal and disappearing into the ground, tunneling my way over to listen.

"I think I figured something out," Riku was whispering as Izumi onlooked, nodding his head as Riku slowly cracked the code to their true mission. I felt at my waist to make sure that both bells were still there, and they unleashed a tinkling noise, distracting both Riku and Izumi, "where'd she go?" Riku hissed, but Izumi was talking at the same time.

"We have to find Kyou and tell her," Izumi said quickly, but before they could act I reached up out of the ground and latched around somebody's ankle: probably Riku's, judging from the size of it. I knew it went against my code to make the first move, but these children needed a push.

I was proven correct as I yanked him down into the earth, only leaving his head and shoulders above the ground, and all that he had to say was, "go and find Kyou, then you guys can come back," and I got my most evil idea yet.

Producing an earth clone, I left it in my little tunnel, allowing it to tickle Riku, who exceeded my expectations by yelping and squirming around while my real body appeared in a tree, slightly behind him bud hidden. Izumi came back, accompanied by Kyou and Riku said through clenched teeth, "she's tickling me from in the earth."

They nodded and put their heads together to come up with a none-too-bad plan, although nobody stopped to think that it might be a clone. Kyou tied a red ribbon to her wrist, handed the end of to Izumi, then they counted to three, and Izumi pulled him out as hard as he could, while Kyou jumped into the hole before it could close up, although the moment she hit 'me,' 'I' disappeared.

"Shit," cursed little Riku as the tunnel began to cave in around Kyou, and the two of them managed to dig her out, the three of them huddling for a new plan. I wondered if they would take it to their advantage that Kyou was already perfectly camouflaged. Probably not.

So, I just returned to where I had been initially and read my book as if I had never left. I didn't want to eavesdrop on their plan: it would be much more fun like this, although I knew that they would probably take the three-on-one approach.

It took a while, and the sunset couldn't have been too far off, but the next thing I knew, all three of them were running at me: so I was right. But half-way through the clearing, Kyou flat-out fainted, falling into a heap on the ground. So much for plan.

It was pretty sketchy, though, that Kyou passed out. All that had happened was that a tunnel caved in. Was she really that weak, or was it a trick? I didn't have much time to think about it, though, as the two of them had my hands occupied neither of them managing to reach the bells, when I got an idea.

I switched to fighting with a hand and a foot, kicking away all of Riku's attack as I pulled out a kunai and threw it straight at Kyou's body, proving me correct as with a loud "POP" it turned into a small log.

That meant that she would be coming up from behind to get the bells. I continued to fight Riku and Izumi with an arm and a leg, while taking out another kunai with my spare hand, turning my head to look for Kyou while reading their tells with my body.

She would probably be in a tree, based on her previous actions. I could feel Riku and Izumi becoming irritated with the fact that I could easily fend both of them off at once while not even looking in their direction. I was right, she was in the tree.

As Kyou dropped from above, I easily deflected her with my hand, punching her away rather than slicing her with the kunai. That was the closest they came to the bells all day, even though they passed.

As the sun set and we all gathered again, all three of their faces showed raw disappointment, "sorry, but the game was that you needed to get the bells," I said, playing along with their disappointment, "but you were correct in your attempts, and as time goes by, you will eventually be able to get these bells," I said, unlatching them from my belt and jingling them, "so congratulations. You are now officially Konohagakure nin. Let's meet back here tomorrow morning, and we'll go on our first mission."

"I liked the bored expression on your face as they came at you with everything they had," Jiraiya said as I walked off the grounds, Naruto at his side, "I think that was the cherry on top of their failure," he didn't bother to point out that they had actually succeeded, just hugged me and caught sight of the book that I was holding, giving me a sly smile.

"Shut up," I said, glaring, "Kakashi told me to bring something to do, I didn't want to risk ruining my scrolls, and I couldn't find an open bookstore. So I brought this."

"No, no, no," he shook his head, "I'm glad that you've developed an interest in our family business. It warms my heart," on the other side of him, Naruto harrumphed, looking back at my three students, all standing shell-shocked on the training ground.

"I, for one, don't like the bell test," was all he said.

Jiraiya shook his head, laughing, "you're just bitter that you got tied to a pole and had to be fed your lunch," he said, reaching over to pinch his student's cheek affectionately, "they do seem a bright group of kids, though, so congratulations," he said, turning back to me, "and I see that you have been ignoring the fact that I bought you your own clothes."

"For one thing, the clothes that you bought nearly immobilize me in their tightness—I have grown since I was twelve—and for another, I like your clothes. They're soft and comfortable," and it's sort of like having him there as a part of me, when he was gone, "you've already worn them in."

"So are you saying that even if I bought you an outfit identical to mine, but in your size, you would ignore it and continue to wear my own clothing?"

I nodded. He was getting it.

"Then I should buy some more clothes for myself," was his reply, and he threw his arms around both of our shoulders, "my two favorite people," he said out loud to us, grinning, "both alike me but in different ways."

"How am I like you?" Both me and Naruto asked in unison, leaning forward to look at him, and although I had hardly met Naruto, I found that I was liking him more and more. Jiraiya ignored our question, and dropped Naruto off once again at his house, walking home arm-in-arm with me.

Jiraiya unlocked his apartment, letting the two of us in and pulling my vest off of my shoulders disgustedly, "stop wearing that monstrosity. It doesn't suit you at all," I let him take it off of me, "and as we walked, I got an idea…if you will follow me to my storage closet."

Instead of following him, I sat down on the couch, folding my legs beneath me. He came back with two big crates, "to solve our clothing dilemma," he pulled open the lid of one of those crates, "from the days before I discovered that green was my color," he pulled out an outfit that was identical to the one he wore, except that the color was a periwinkle color, lined with black. "It's just as worn as everything else I own," he turned around so that I could shrug into the little kimono. It was just as comfortable as his green ones.

"And one of these, instead of that monstrosity of a vest," he said, handing me a red cloak, identical to his own, "it's a family thing," he said, helping me position it on my shoulders, "now you're one of my own," he ruffled my hair, "and I bought you some legitimate shoes," he said, "i went with black instead of navy."

"Dad, you need to stop buying me shit," I said with a laugh, slipping into the traditional navy sandals, fitting snugly around my ankles and lower calves, "and learn that I like hand-me-downs the most."

His black belt was a bit big on me, so he laughed at the irony, "there are some things that I need to buy you," he said, pulling on the belt and snapping it back against my waist, "but I do happen to have a smaller one somewhere," he held up a finger and went back into his storage closet as I adjusted the kunai holder on my thigh.

The other belt fit me right, so I put the correct pouches on it, one for kunai, one for shuriken, and one for other shit that I might need.

"God, every time I come home, you make me even sadder that I have to leave," he said, laughing that the cloak was longer than the kimono as I irritatedly tried to make it look shorter, "this sucks. Wanna go to dinner?"

"You're not going to cook for me?" I asked mockingly, taking his arm as we walked towards the door.

"Sorry, but my expertise extends only as far as poached eggs," he replied, "but I fooled you with my excellent egg-making skills, right?"

I laughed as we continued down the street, interrupted by a, "it's like every time I turn around, you two look more and more alike," causing the two of us to pivot very suddenly and banging heads with each other very abruptly, "See, it's like mirror image," Tsunade smiled and waved to us, "where are you two headed?"

"To dinner," Jiraiya said as she caught up with us, smiling, "want to join?"

She shrugged and fell into step on the other side of me, before adding with a good-natured smile, "it's not like I have a job to do or anything? I'm just the Hokage. So I heard that you passed your squad on to the next level," she said to me, smiling.

"Yeah, they were pretty impressive, too," Jiraiya said with a nod, "she had to use an entire limb to fend off each of them. If there were four, she's be out of luck," Tsunade looked at me with a smile, then back to Jiraiya to continue, "it was one of the more comical things I've seen in a while."

"Well congratulations to them, then," she said as we walked into the restaurant, approaching the desk so that Jiraiya could speak, "table for three, please."

The host, who had been pushing papers about with a stressed facial expression said, "that'll be a two hour—" then he looked up and noticed to whom he had been speaking, with Tsunade in the background, "right this way," and led us to a booth in the back, taking some poor man's table.

"Well now I feel bad," Tsunade said, placing her napkin in her lap as I shuffled into the seat beside her, allowing Jiraiya to have an entire bench to himself.

"Bad enough to wait two hours?" Jiraiya asked, and leaned forward to whisper, "I was lying earlier—now I'm with my two favorite people. Don't tell Naruto that he only takes third place."

For the presence of Tsunade, we were awarded VIP treatment and served our food rather quickly, "excuse me," said a woman, walking over. I recognized her as one of the nicer nurses at the hospital. She was around thirty-five years old, and had nursed me back to health after the incident. "Ayame Fujioka?"

"Um…this is she," I said nervously, vision straying over to Jiraiya, who nodded encouragingly.

"Well my name is Sonomi Ochiai, and I would like to thank you so much for being Izumi's sensei," she extended one hand, which I shook, awe-struck. That must explain Izumi's fun fact about living in the hospital.

"The, uh, pleasure's all mine," I said, unsure of exactly what to say as I withdrew my hand, "make sure Izumi gets some sleep, though, because we're gonna be working starting tomorrow."

We both laughed at Izumi's insomniac expense, then "thanks again, Ayame-san," she bowed to me, then turned and bowed to Tsunade before making her quick exit.

"Am I the only one who thought that was the most awkward exchange that I have ever participated in?" I asked, and both Jiraiya and Tsunade shook their heads to confirm that I was not the only one.

Dinner went smoothly for the rest of the evening, then I went home with Jiraiya to prepare for the first day of missions.

Hope y'all liked it.

-Piper