Ch. 8: Settling In
We stopped at the station at the side of the road. The two men were, indeed, slouching. Giggling mischievously, Yumi henged into a spitting image of Iruka, then walked up to the table, slamming her hand down on it. "Just what do you think you're doing?" she growled in perfect imitation of Iruka's voice. The two men jumped in fear and started stuttering.
"Uh-uh-uh… hi?" one of the men tried. With a 'poof' Iruka disappeared and it was just Yumi again. She grinned impishly.
"Hi! Nanami Mayumi, here for the Chuunin Exams!"
"Nanami…" the first man repeated, bewildered.
"…Mayumi?" the second man finished, equally bewildered.
"Aren't you supposed to be recording who enters and stuff?" I asked.
"Oh, um… SHIT!" the first man yelled.
"RIGHT!" the second man said, realizing what I meant.
"DAMMIT!" the first man shouted.
"Iruka's gonna kill us…" they whimpered in unison. Then they became all business. The first one pointed at Deki.
"Who are you?"
"Shimi. Shimi Hideki," he replied coldly.
"Awww… is Deki-kun a little shy?" Yumi cooed. I rolled my eyes at her. "Hey, once again, since you probably didn't catch it the first time, my name is Nanami Mayumi, surname Nanami, given name Mayumi, and this is my best bud Kaida!" she said motioning across the table. In a semi-whisper, she added, "You don't want to get her angry. She's a Sou—she has a family of people involved in killing—her dad's an executioner and her uncle's an assassin. And they were the ones who trained her!" Leigha started fingering the hilt of her katana, where it was now casually hooked around her waist instead of strapped across her back in its battle-ready placement. I laughed at the flickers of fear that passed through the eyes of the two men.
"You're one to talk!" Washi interjected. "You almost killed me that one time when I accidentally broke that one ice sculpture of yours!"
"It wasn't just 'one' ice sculpture, that was the TENTH one, and it was for Kaida's birthday!" Yumi retorted.
"So what- it's still just an ice sculpture," Washi said noncommitally.
"Just an ice sculpture? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH EFFORT-"
"DOES IT REALLY LOOK LIKE I CARE ABOUT-"
"YOU WOULD NEVER BE ABLE-"
"WHAT IF I DON'T-"
The two of them shouted at each other, yelling at the same time with no regard to our eardrums.
"This must get annoying," the second man commented as Washi and Yumi turned up the volume and continued bickering.
"You have no idea of the HALF of it," Deki grumbled, talking over the noisy fighting of the two said opponents. "That one right there is the worst." He jerked his head in my direction.
"Hi!" I said cheerfully. "Thank you Deki, it's so nice to know you care! I'm Riku Tomoko! Surname Riku, given name Tomoko!"
"You don't want to get HER angry or annoyed either!" Kazu practically shouted in a sad attempt to whisper. "She's frickin' strong!"
The first man flinched. "So you pretty much are in the danger of death or serious injury whenever you're around any of those three?" he summarized with a whimper.
Said three of us smiled sheepishly while Kazu and Washi nodded vigorously.
"I think we can sympathize with your pain," the first man said.
"So, it's Nanami Mayumi, Sou Kaida, Shimi Hideki, Warami Washi, Nisi Kazuyuki, and Riku Tomoko," Deki clarified.
"Okay," the first man said, "you are free to go."
We walked down the main road into the village.
"Bye!" Yumi called cheerfully, turning back around to wave.
"Now, for the next order of business: finding a place to stay!" I exclaimed.
A kind, elderly woman pointed us in the direction of an inn, and we hurried there in hopes of securing a room. Upon arriving, we rented out two rooms: one for us girls, and another for the guys. We trooped upstairs and dropped off our few supplies and our change of clothes, handily stored in a single scroll for each person.
After Kaida, Yumi and I freshened up, we knocked on the door to the guys' room, which was across the hall. Kazu opened it and we saw Washi sprawled out and napping on one of the two beds, Deki reading in an armchair, and Kazu was holding a pack of playing cards in his hand.
"Great!" Yumi said, spotting the deck of cards. "Can we play?"
Kazu answered in the affirmative and asked Kaida and I if we wanted to play. Kaida said yes, but I declined the offer, and decided to explore town a bit and make some friends.
"See ya!" I said as I turned to leave. After a second thought, I shouted back to Deki, "Oh, and don't worry, I'll look for a prank prop shop for Washi!"
A snicker came back from behind the door in reply, where Deki was now probably planning Washi's ultimate demise. I went out, then strolled along the streets, soaking in the sights and sounds. I wasn't paying attention when I bumped into a solid chest.
"Who are you?"
I froze, shocked.
"I said, who are you?" the same deep voice asked.
I quickly recovered from my shock and without skipping a beat I answered, "Hi. My name is Riku Tomoko," while looking up at him from where I had instinctively stepped back after the collision. He had long black hair gathered into a loose ponytail, and pronounced tear duct-like lines running from the inner corners of his eyes to down by his nose. He looked like he was fourteen or fifteen. For some strange reason, he reminded me of the Uchiha kid.
"Oh, I apologize!" I said quickly, realizing I was being rude.
"Don't worry about it," he said in an emotionless voice, one that was almost cold. I didn't push it any further, not wishing to make a scene.
My thoughts were interrupted by a loud shriek, then high-pitched giggling coming from my left. I looked over and saw two girls on either side of a boy a bit above my height, and all three looked about my age. They were obviously flirting, and the girls looked to me like the popular, preppy, wannabe type of girl, extremely rude and incredibly annoying.
One of the girls, the one with brown hair who was chewing on gum as obnoxiously and disgustingly as a cow chews its cud, called out loudly, intending for me to hear. "Who's that bitch over there, gabbing with that hottie like she's all that?" She added, "Hey sexy!" when she saw the man's passive, unblinking stare turn to her. She winked at him, and I turned away, absolutely repulsed. My feelings didn't hurt a bit; it was only coming from an insecure, backboneless crowd pleaser, after all.
Instead I gritted my teeth and muttered to the man standing in front of me, "Is it a bad thing if one moment you feel happy and on top of the world, but the next you feel sadistic and homicidal, and you want to torture, then kill everyone who has ever annoyed you?"
"Forget it," he said, but not in a rude way. His voice and dark gray eyes then seemed to hold a touch of amusement. "If you did that, would anyone be left in the world?"
I thought about it, then answered, "I guess not." I smiled. "I'm sorry, but you really remind of someone."
"Really? Who?"
"This probably sounds really stupid, but you really look like this kid named Uchiha Sasuke for some reason." I looked downward to the ground.
His hands tensed up, just slightly, before he calmly said, "That's interesting. Well, he is my younger brother, after all."
I looked up in surprise. "Really?"
"Yes. He's a brat, don't you think?"
I nodded vigorously, grinning.
"I think I'll call you Makimi," he said suddenly, and quite randomly.
"What does that mean?" I asked, hoping to understand the reason for the name, and for the timing of its 'presentation.'
"Genuine beauty." His eyes flickered in the direction of the two girls, plastered with makeup and orange with fake tanning, now being joined by their blonde (obviously dyed)-haired friend. I could actually see padding in her top.
I smiled, now understanding exactly what he meant. That smile turned into a mischievous smirk as I got an idea. "Say, Sasuke-brat's-older-brother, do you know of any parks or attractions around here that would be good to visit tonight?"
He smiled slightly, probably at my own mischievous grin. I could see the amusement in his expression and hear it in his voice as he answered, "Yes, there is a park that will have an open stage about two streets down. It'll open around seven this evening."
I grinned widely at him before bowing politely, saying, "Thank you again, Sasuke's-older-brother," then I turned to leave when he nodded.
While I walked away, I could feel two glares following me, informing me that I had two new enemies. But there another gaze, his gaze, watching me, but it wasn't as cold as before. It was softer, warmer, as if he was smiling, and it was by that that I could also tell that I had made a good friend.
"Hey, doesn't he look so hot? Especially since he's so tall, and so strong, and has the dark hair and those gorgeous green eyes!" I paused for a moment, very much annoyed by the girls' constant yammering.
I sent out a tendril of chakra and found a weak shelf above them, supporting a bucket of fish guts. Smirking to myself, I weakened the wood further. A second more, a crash, and the girls screeched as cold, smelly, slimy fish innards dumped down on their heads. I turned around to see the damage, then started walking again, laughing on the inside, a smirk firmly in place on the outside.
"Teach them to comment so loudly and rudely and so high-pitched on guys' features when said guys are clearly not interested…" I muttered under my breath. "Tall, strong, dark hair, gorgeous green ey—" I stopped in shock. "Green eyes?" They were gray…
I turned around to check one more time, but the man had disappeared.