"Fuji-chan?" Kiiro gasped, poking her head out the wagon window to face another girl, looking out of her wagon's window-- a girl with short brown hair and purple eyes.
"KIIRO!" The girl grinned. "I see you became a ninja!"
Kiiro grinned back. "I see you did too! I thought your parents weren't you go let you...?"
The brown-haired girl's response was to point her head in the direction of the lizard sleeping on her arm. "Apparently, they didn't know how big Elvi could get. Of course, she gets bigger now..."
Kiiro winced. "If I fight you, I'm soooo dead."
"I wouldn't kill you! You're my friend!"
Kiiro nodded, then took a moment to smile evilly at Kuroppi for the 'you're my friend' remark, before turning back to her friend. "How us everybody back home...? I've been to grudge-bearing to visit them since I ran away, so I have no idea what the hell's going on."
The other girl gasped. "You mean haven't seen them since you were six?"
"Oh yeah." Kiiro's tone was smug. "But I grabbed some cookies in my way out when I left..."
"Mangekyou sharingan inducing cookies?" Kuroppi asked, smirking.
Kiiro grinned. "Yes, those cookies. So I'm a cookie thief, too. Everyone! This is my friend from my old hometown, Bakemono Fujiiro! Or Fuji-chan in kiirospeak."
"Nice to meet you all," Fujiiro said, stroking her lizard as the wagon she was on started to speed up. "Oh! See you guys all later. I look forward to fighting you, Kiiro-chan!"
"I'm sooo dead," Kiiro sighed.
...
"... So, here we are again, bored as ever," Honemashi sighed.
"Hmm..." Kiiro thought for a moment, then started singing:
"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nin bottles of beer! You take one, and pass it around, ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall! Ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-eight bottles of beer..."
...
"You take one down, you pass it around, twenty-seven bottles of beer on the wall! Twenty-seven bottles of beer on the wall, twenty-seven bottles of beer!"
By this point, everyone except for Honemashi had started singing, and Honemashi was hiding his face in a pillow ('that song has made you all drunk and I don't want as part of that!').
"WOULD YOU PLEASE SHUT UP?!" He yelled.
...
"You take one down and pass it around, zero bottles of beer on the wall!"
Everyone cheered, including Honemashi (who was just glad it was over).
"Kiiro, when you were introducing yourself to Anko-sensei when we first became gennin, you said you didn't like your little siblings," Kuroppi noted. "How do you even have little siblings? Your mom died when you were just a baby, so... are you twins or something?"
"Huh?" Kiiro said. "Oh... that!" She laughed. "My cousins. I was raised for the first six years by my aunt and my uncle, so the would call me 'neechan.' I referred to them as my sister and my brother..."
"Why don't you like them?" Kuroppi asked confused. "Brothers are fun!"
"Your brothers are s-ranked criminals," Kiiro pointed out. "So, of course they're fun. My guys are just annoying-- barring my missing older brother, whose name in unknown to me and who may or may not be dead."
Kakashi spluttered the water he was drinking all over himself.
"You know my brother?" Kiiro asked suspiciously.
Kakashi sighed. "Yes-- I'm not telling you who he is."
"Bastard," Kiiro muttered, sticking out her tongue.
Kakashi just smiled (though, with that mask of his, it was pretty hard to tell).
...
"Miki," Pein called, "They'll be arriving soon. Go greet them..."
"Hai, Pein-sama," Miki replied, disappearing in a puff of smoke.
...
"We're HERE!" Kiiro exclaimed. "Thank goodness, I can stretch my legs!" Kiiro got out of the wagon and did three laps around it before collapsing into the ground.
"Road trips always make me soooo exhausted," she muttered. "What about you, Haku?"
"M-me?" Haku stuttered, pointing at himself. "I don't know about exhausted... road trips give me time to think."
"And what do you think about?" Kuroppi teased.
Haku blushed. "That's-- that's none of your business!"
"Oh, that's right!" Kiiro said. "Haku, you said you have a girl you like, right?"
"R-right..." Haku said.
Kiiro grinned. "That's cool! Few people our age who like someone turn into a fangirl or fanboy-- it's pretty damn obvious you're not or we'd all know who it is."
Kuroppi, Honemashi, and Aki had to hide their chuckles.
"You're in the minority!" Kiiro concluded. "Congratulations!" She gave Haku a hug, then ran around the wagon again.
"Why'd you do that?" Aki asked.
"Because running around the wagon is fun!" Kiiro explained. "You should try it!"
"No, not that!" Kuroppi said. "Why'd you hug Haku?"
"Because he's in the minority," Kiiro said exasperatedly, but she would explain no further than that.
...
"Here is your room," the escort, a middle-aged Rain chuunin, explained tiredly. "You will stay here and for the most of your stay. Don't leave unless we tell you to or unless it becomes unsafe. There's a training area out back."
"Isn't this the Rain Village?" Kiiro wondered. "It's all sunny today."
Kuroppi rolled her eyes. "If it was rainy every day, everybody would drown. Or at least their crops would."
"There was no rain scheduled for today," the escort added, miffed. "Enjoy your stay."
He walked off, closing the door behind him.
"... Okay..." Kiiro said, "Rain can be scheduled now?"
"In this village, it can,"Fuyu explained through clenched teeth. "Also, the Akatsuki are supposed to be working here."
Aki's head nodded and Hokou's voice said, "My sons died not very far from here."
"Couldn't you have just resurrected them?"Fuyu asked.
"They were... eaten. Their bodies were not obtainable."
"Eaten?" Kiiro gasped, color draining out of her face. "That's... that's just..."
"Disgusting?" Aki offered. "Thankfully, though, Akatsuki probably won't bug us for awhile. We cut a deal with them-- I won't kill their leader and they won't go after any jinchuuriki for awhile."'
"Why are they going after jinchuuriki?" Kiiro asked.
Honemashi rolled his eyes. "They're gonna suck the demons out and put them under bondage," he said. "The jinchuuriki dies in the process."
"Yugiito's gonna die?" Koneko gasped (remember Koneko? she's been awfully quiet in this chapter...).
"Well, the reason they're waiting a few years is so that I can have enough chakra to save them all no matter how fast they're killed off," Hokou explained. "And, in return, I won't kill them and will come quietly when they've gotten the others... however, they said nothing about just harming them and I'm not gonna let them get the others." Aki's face smirked by Hokou's will.
Koneko smiled. "So, even if Yugiito dies, you'll save her?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
...
"Okay!" Kiiro said, looking at the instructions she had on a piece of paper. "Let's go take that exam! Wonder what the first part will be?"
"We'll just have to find out, won't we?" Haku said mysteriously.
"... Wait," Kiiro said, "Didn't you have an ANBU mask? Why are you taking chuunin exams if you're that high-ranked already?"
"When I returned to Mist after being resurrected, they stripped me of my title and made me start over at square one," Haku explained., "I got off easy-- usually they would've killed me, but because I'd been revived by Aki they couldn't touch me."
Aki smiled sadly. "They're scared of me, they don't want to make me mad."
"Ah..." Kiiro said, "Because you're the jinchuuriki?"
"Yeah," Aki laughed, "I creep them out."
"Can't live with her, can't live without her," Honemashi added.
"No, Honemashi, that's just how you feel," Kuroppi said. Honemashi blushed, everyone laughed (except Aki, who just kind of looked around cluelessly).
"... So, Haku's taken the exams before?" Kiiro asked, curious. "Where'd you take them?"
"Me?" Haku asked. "I took the chuunin exams in Konoha..."
"Konoha?" Kiiro gasped. "No way! Really?"
"Really," Haku assured her, "In fact, I had lunch at that dango place you're always talking about..."
"Wow," Kiiro laughed, "You learn something new everyday!"
"Yeah..." Haku said, "I guess so, huh? I remember, I was sitting there with Zabuza-san, when..." his eyes clouded over.
"I knocked over a girl's plate... she was only a little younger than me... she started crying and Zabuza-san made me buy her another one."
Kiiro stopped. And turned around, very slowly. "That was YOU?!"
-- (Kiiro flashback mode)--
"Stupid Chigatana," six-year-old Kiiro grumbled to herself, biting a dango ball off the stick viciously, "Thinks he's better than everyone else because he inherited some sword... I mean, come on! If you depend on weapons, then against someone if the same prowess who doesn't you're doomed from the start..."
Someone bumped her plate off the long table she was sitting at. It was a boy a couple years older than herself, with chin-length brown hair.
"Sorry!" he said quickly, picking up the pieces.
"Why'd you do that?" Kiiro asked, eyes tearing up. "That was the last of my food money for the week you just knocked over!"
"Oh... I'm so sorry!" the boy gasped. "Here, it hasn't been on the floor too long, maybe--"
"Oh, just buy her another one," grumbled the tall, overly tanned man behind him.
Haku nodded obediently. "Of course, Zabuza-san," he said, reaching into his pocket and ordering another stick of dango.
Kiiro giggled. "How gentlemanly of you!" she said.
--(End Kiiro Flashback Mode)--
"Well, Kiiro-san?" Haku asked. "Am I still gentlemanly?"
Kiiro giggled. "Yes!" She said, nodding.
And three gennin teams entered the room where the first part of the Chuunin Exams was taking place.
Kiiro stayed behind for a minute. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" she whispered under her breath.
...
As Kiiro reentered the room, she ran right into a boy with white hair that reached his chin.
"Well, well, well," the boy said, smirking, "What have we here?"
Kiiro glared at the boy. "Chigatana," she hissed.
Chigatana glared right back. "Warai," he retorted. "How's it like depending on nonexistent demon summons you'll never have enough chakra to control?"
"That depends," Kiiro shot back, "How's it going being unable to do any jutsu without a blade in hand?"
Kiiro glared at Chigatana. Chigatana glared at Kiiro. Evil sparks of fury danced between them, and everyone in the room backed away for fear of getting hit.
Kuroppi rolled her eyes and pulled Kiiro away, as another girl grabbed Chigatana, hitting him across the head.
Kiiro stared at the girl who'd grabbed Chigatana. "Saku-sempai?"
Haruno Sakura grinned, patting Chigatana absentmindedly on the head. "They put me on your friend here's team because I couldn't cooperate with Ino and Chouji. His teammate Yuuta went with them."
Ino, Chouji, and a boy with spiky brown hair waved at Kiiro from across the room.
Kiiro waved back, mouthing, 'Hi, Yucchan!" at the brown-haired boy. He sweatdropped and waved back.
"Where's your last teammate then?" Kuroppi asked Chigatana, coming up from behind Kiiro and startling her.
Chigatana looked at Kuroppi and blushed slightly, then looked away.
"Yao broke his leg, so he couldn't come," Chigatana mumbled. "Ibiki-sensei said that he should stay home with the other rookies."
"Oh..." Kiiro said. "That explains a lot."
Something tapped her on the shoulder. "Is that a demon at your heels?"
"Yes," Ussura growled, "I am. Don't you dare make a Kyuubi joke," she added.
The person who had tapped Kiiro on the shoulder was a boy with bright green hair that hung stringily in his face, wearing all black leather. He glared at Ussura. "You'd better not get drunk," he said.
"I SAID NO KYUUBI JOKES!" Ussura yipped, starting to glow at the muzzle.
"Ussura-chan, no!" Kiiro gasped. "You're not supposed to use that inside!"
Ussura's eyes widened and the glowing stopped. She sniffed the green-haired boy lightly and grimaced.
Green-boy smirked. "Still as bratty as ever, I see," he chuckled darkly. "Well, then, Ussura... the last round of these exams is always a tournament. Maybe I'll get to kill you."
Kiiro looked suspiciously at the green-boy. "And exactly who the hell are you?"
The boy smirked. "I," he said, "Am the Rokubi no Raijuu."
"No, you're not," Kiiro said tiredly. "Don't say stuff like that. You give demon-obsessors like myself false hope."
The boy who claimed to be Raijuu smirked. "A demon-obsessor? I thought they didn't exist anymore... especially in Konoha. Did you hate someone that old drunk fox killed or something?"
Kiiro grinned. "Nope! I just appreciate the fact that demons are awesome. Why are you wearing long sleeves on a day like this?"
"That's not relevant--" the boy (who shall now be known as raijuu) started, but he was cut off.
"Are they to hide jinchuuriki markings?" Kiiro guessed. "You know, if you're self-concious about those, you can hide them with cover-up."
"I'm not a jinchuuriki!" Raijuu hissed. "I am the demon!"
"Suuuure, you are," Kiiro said rolling her eyes. "Unfortunately, a human can only become a demon in the last moments of their life. And, usually, those humans are humans who were doing whatever they did to protect someone, so they end up a Guardian Angel instead of a Tormentor."
"You really did your research when you were dead, didn't you?" Honemashi noted.
Kiiro nodded. "I overheard some people talking about an ex-mist-nin who was placed as a Tormentor."
"Ah, that would do it," Honemashi said.
Raijuu glared at the two zombies. "How could you two, living humans, possibly know of hell?"
Kiiro blinked. "Well," she said, "it might have something to do with the fact that I died about half a year ago.
"I died when I was about eight," Honemashi added. "I'm sixteen now."
Kiiro giggled. "You keep telling yourself that, Honema-chan. Keep telling yourself that."
Honemashi shot Kiiro a dirty look. "You have problems," he decided.
Kiiro grinned. "And don't I know it!"
...
"That was pretty easy," Kuroppi noted, pocketing her exam pencil before it could be collected.
"Yeah!" Kiiro agreed. "Even Iruka-sensei is better at catching cheaters than those guys!"
Everyone stared at her. Kuroppi glared.
"You didn't copy my test answers in the academy, did you?" she glowered, an aura of rage emitting slowly from her body.
Kiiro laughed. "Don't be silly! I always copy off of Kon-chan since I always sat next to her on the side of my writing hand."
"HA!" Kuroppi said. "You are soooo dead when I tell her!"
"But you're not telling her," Kiiro said, sounding scared. "Are you?"
Kuroppi ran away, Kiiro chasing after her and shouting various words of choice that would have made her mother whack her across the head if she was present. The proctor for thehad to go and grab them, tellin them that the second part of the exam was starting and they needed to go now.
...
...
...
Me: Whew! I haven't updated this in a looong time... I can't get the computer until I do 2 hours of homework as of last week, so that hasn;t helped "
Kuro: Yeah, yeah. Just write more.
Me: I AM NOT YOUR SLAVE!