WOO! I kinda liked this chapter! It made my heart swell~ lol.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! MASASHI KISHIMOTO DOES! I also do not own any of the OCs introduced in this fan fiction, except the following:

Tsukuyomi Clan

Nero

Shichi

Chi

Yasushi

A/N: Beginning is Ruriko's POV~

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Chapter Fifteen: I Can TO Make Friends! Memory Whiplashes!

I was out of the hospital at long, freaking last! It was nice to inhale the scent of the parties that were being thrown for the final round of the exams that were just around the corner. My arm was still in a sling, but it felt a lot better now. Lucky jackass Osamu got out before I did because by some miracle, he recovered faster than I did. He lost his stitches, but he did have some bandages on.

It was mostly the same for me, save for my arm. I walked down the street toward the training grounds, just so I could watch some of the guys train.

… Not that I like any of them or anything! Don't even think for a second! They were all the same!

I huffed, but the smell of ramen just caught my attention. I whipped around as fast as I could and bolted to the ramen shop, immediately plopping down in a seat and beaming at the owner, Teuchi.

"The usual!" I announced, making him chuckle and get to work. I reached into my pocket, getting out the money that I so totally borrowed from Nero, not stole. I glanced up as another guy came to sit at the shop. He had bangs framing his tanned face, his black hair cut short in the back. His green eyes were almond shaped and he wore a headband on his forehead, telling me that he was a ninja. He also wore a black sleeveless jacket with a green hood and green fingerless gloves, matching black pants with green pockets as well bandages on his right arm. An odd scar went through his right eye, his right eyebrow pierced with a ring style earring. Wasn't bad looking.

Not that I was staring or anything.

I looked back to find my ramen in front of me, but when I picked up my chopsticks, they fell right out and I realized that I was right handed, not left handed.

"Fuck!" I cursed.

"Do you always swear like that in public?" The guy asked me. I looked up at him, huffing.

"I'm pissed off. Who're you to ask?" I demanded.

"You don't have any manners, do you? It's standard- Oh, to hell with it. Name's Katsu Kin." He sighed. I paused for a second, then shrugged.

"Tsukuyomi Ruriko." I replied. Kin stared at me for a second, then blinked.

"Tsukuyomi? So you're the infamous 'I can kick all your asses after I eat my opponent' girl." He mused. I sweat dropped.

"You heard about that?" I asked, feeling my stomach knot. Kin smirked.

"Whole village heard about that. Looking at your bowl of ramen there, you're always hungry, aren't you?" He asked.

"Stop guessing! … And so what if I am?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Kin shrugged, thanking Teuchi for his ramen, before breaking his chopsticks apart, glancing at me.

"No reason. Actually, when I heard about you, I thought you'd be one of those people like Uchiha Sasuke or Hyuuga Neji." He replied honestly, taking a bite of his food. I sweat dropped.

"How do they act?"

"Show offs."

"Ah…" My voice trailed. Yea, I should have been paying more attention to the conversation, but my mind was on food now. Man, this sucked! Watching him eat was making my stomach growl and I couldn't use chopsticks being left handed. I looked back at my food.

"You're right handed." Kin stated, pointing at my sore arm. I sighed.

"Unfortunately." I muttered. Kin paused, then picked up his bowl.

"Eat like this." He held the bowl to his lips, sipping noodles and juice. I felt stupid there for a second, then quickly scooped up the bowl. I gulped almost the whole bowl in that single movement, content as I smiled.

"Hey, thanks… You doin' anything right now?" I asked. Kin finished his ramen, shrugging.

"Nothing important." He replied."

"Wanna come with me to find my moronic teammates?"

"Sure, why not?" We both got up, leaving money behind as we strolled through town to the training field.

"So, how tall are you anyway?" I asked, averting my eyes when I noticed that he was taller than me by far.

"Almost five seven." He answered casually, as if it were nothing. I twitched.

"You're kidding me!" I cried. He smirked.

"You're just saying that because you're like, what? Five foot?"

"Five foot one and a half!" I protested. Kin laughed quietly.

"Because a half makes a whole lot of difference."

"Ya damn right it does." I retorted, then looked up to see most of the finalist for the exams in the training grounds. Akira was arguing with Nero, though.

"You're pretty hypocritical, ya know that!" He was yelling, pointing a finger at Nero, who smacked his hand away.

"Shut up, asshole. It was just a suggestion!"

"Yea, right! I bet you have the hots for Koyuki, that's why you let her win!"

"I said shut up, Akira!" Nero snapped, grabbing the front of his sweatshirt. I sweat dropped.

"Excuse me for a second," I said, giving Kin a quick innocent smile, before stomping forward and slamming my teammates' heads together as best I could with one arm, "SHUT THE HELL UP, MORONS! You're supposed to be training, not arguing!"

"Ow!" Both guys held their foreheads tightly, wincing. Kin raised an eyebrow.

"I guess that's one way to do it." He murmured thoughtfully. I smirked a little. Nero rolled his eyes.

"Whatever… Who're you anyway? It's not every day Ruriko makes a friend." He added.

"Katsu Kin. Pleasure." Kin stated flatly.

"Nero. This is Tsukuyomi Akira, Ruriko's stupid brother." Nero replied.

"Shut up," Akira muttered and glanced at Kin, "Heyyy, you're good looking. It's about time Ruriko found a good looking friend. I mean, she's got Nero…"

"I'm going to kill him." Nero stated, but I grabbed his arm, glaring at him and my brother.

"What the freaking hell is your guys' problem? And bullshit! I can make good friends." I retorted. Kin seemed thoughtful, but said nothing. Akira and Nero shared doubtful looks, making me scowl, jerking away from Nero's arm.

"Oh, whatever. You guys are just assheads." I snapped.

"Well, that's a perfect picture insult." Kin stated, nodding as if he was pondering it. I blushed a little, wondering why the hell I came up with something like that. Nero smirked and Akira huffed.

"She spews shit. She doesn't know half the swear words she says." Akira replied, waving a hand.

"Shut up, Akira! You're so full of crap, it's gushing out your ears." I blurted.

"What did I tell you?" Akira asked, shrugging with a smirk. Gods, he was embarrassing me. Kin and Nero looked like they were both trying not to laugh at how stupid I was acting and how smart Akira was trying to be. For crying out loud! I'm a cripple, cut me some slack, people!

Nero's POV

I walked down the hospital hallway after meeting Ruriko and her friend, Kin. He was pretty interesting, definitely not one of those obnoxious loud mouths, thank the gods. Akira seemed to like his company too, but I noticed he was trying to show off. What a moron.

I peeked into Koyuki's room, watching her flip through a book while taking occasional sips of her soup before she looked up, seeing me.

"Nero! About time. You're late." She huffed, but smiled anyway. I stepped in, smiling.

"Afternoon. How're your legs?" I asked, shifting my eyes down to her bandaged up legs. From the looks of them, they looked way better than before. They're crushed up shapes were put back together, like Humpty Dumpty, looking as normal as ever under the white bandages around them.

"A lot better," Koyuki sighed with relief, "Kai and Kasumi stopped by with candy, thank gods. The hospital food here is terrible. You training hard? I don't want to show up at the final rounds and see that you lose." I laughed a little, but I was having trouble telling her who I was supposed to fight and it made me cringe.

I had to fight Mai first and if I beat her, I had to fight Kai. I was the lucky duck that had to fight two, if I won my first that is, but I had a sinking feeling that it wasn't going to happen. I had seen what Mai did to Eiji and it made me shiver.

"Is something wrong?" Koyuki asked curiously, tilting her head. I averted my eyes. This was it. Time to fess up or lie…

"I have to fight Mai and Kai, if I beat Mai that is… But…" My voice trailed. Koyuki crinkled her nose, as if the thought of the two battles unnerved her.

"Mai? She's the one that tormented Eiji, right?" She asked. I nodded. Koyuki grimaced and looked away, out the window for a second, before looking back at me.

"Good luck… If what you told me is true, about everything that happened… Well… Let's just hope she won't get inside your head and make you go crazy. I saw Eiji in the hospital earlier to visit Osamu. He looked a little uncomfortable." She replied. I nodded, looking at my feet.

"Definitely…"

"Nero?"

"Hm?" I looked up to find Koyuki giving me a hard stare.

"You promise me that you'll fight to the best of your ability and won't give up easily, got it?" She demanded. I stared at her for a while. A tall order, I thought, but this was Koyuki asking. Good friend, good opponent, the only person other than the Tsukuyomi Clan that knew my secrets. I smirked.

"Make that a bet." I stated. Koyuki grinned.

"1,000 ryo sound good?"

"Hell yea." I agreed, making her laugh. I stayed for a while longer, sharing secrets and talking tips for the upcoming battles. I mentioned that I'd reserve her and her team seats at the final rounds stadium in a good place where she could see me kick ass. Eventually I had to go since Koyuki was due for a check up with the Hokage.

I walked out, heading down the hallway with my hands in my pockets. I was pretty content now, feeling slightly more confident as I headed around a corner. I bumped into someone, my eyes flicking up for a second.

Stupid me.

Mai stepped away from me, staring at me. I felt like I touched fire and all the regret and doubt that I had felt before hit me heavily. For a second, her eyes were the same cold blue before they appeared bright red to me.

Immediately, I felt the hot lashes on my back and face, my body blazing with pain. I gasped, clasping a hand over my throat when I felt a familiar, squeezing hand grip it tightly.

This happened within seconds before it vanished, just like that. I swayed dizzily and caught myself on the wall, breathing hard before I looked at Mai, who frowned a little at me, her eyes their normal icy blue.

"No wonder," She murmured, "You should back out or I'll drive you insane." With that, she pushed past me and continued on. I was still trembling, leaning on the wall for support as I reached up carefully to touch my face. I felt warm, sticky blood from the lashes and my legs gave out from under me.

I could feel something welling in my chest toward my throat, whether a scream or a sob, I couldn't tell, but I had to hold it down until I knew Mai was out of hearing range. My body was shaking even more and my chest grew tight. I squeezing my eyes shut after watching my vision slowly blur with tears.

"Don't worry, Nero… He won't find you again, I promise. Not even Karen can stop me…" The familiar warm, comforting voice was barely there through the haze of pain, but even that didn't help me.

I leaned forward, hugging myself tightly and gritting my teeth. Can't cry. Can't cry. If I do, she'll get mad at me too… It made me want to laugh bitterly. She acted just like him, all the time. She got mad when I compared them, but it was true. Even her husband knew it…

"Little brat! Don't ever compare me to that fucking monster or I'll rip your tongue out!" Her voice made me shudder and want to melt into a puddle on the floor. I opened my eyes to find that the tear already hit the tiled floor.

Crap… She's going to start hitting me now…

"Nero, are you all right?" A familiar voice asked. I jerked my head up, sitting upright quickly to see Kotori looking at me curiously. She blinked, noticing my tears before I quickly wiped at my face.

"What happened? You looked like someone took a switch to your face." She murmured, helping me up. I shrugged a little, grimacing.

"No, just… Wounds from training…" I mumbled. Kotori raised an eyebrow suspiciously, but she decided against asking any more questions. Thank the gods. That saved me the trouble of explaining.

"If you say so… It's sad when good lookin' kids like you get hurt!" She declared with a smile. Probably trying to cheer me up. I smiled in return, ignoring how the Glasgow cut in the corner of my mouth stung. I paused for a second, blinking when I remembered what I wanted to ask her during the preliminaries.

"Ah, Kotori-sensei, it's probably none of my business… But… Is Eiji okay?" I asked. Kotori blinked, then smiled.

"It's fine. Thanks for your concern… But honestly, I haven't seen Eiji since he visited Osamu after the preliminaries. He's doing that thing again where he vanishes mysteriously for a bit and comes back, looking fine and dandy." She sighed, putting her hands on her hips.

"Hm? You mean he just ditches everyone? Does he go home?" I asked, unnerved at the thought. Kotori smiled.

"Don't think so. I just think he needs some alone time… He probably trains and stuff, but it'd be nice if he hung around his teammates more. I think you know more than anyone, though, what he thinks about." She added quietly. I nodded slowly, averting my eyes.

"Guess so."

"Hey," She said, snapping her fingers and making me look up at her, "Don't give up! I'll be rooting for you in your battle against Mai and that kid, Kai. Good luck!" She leaned in and gave me a small kiss, just a peck, on the forehead before patting me and walking on.

I smiled to myself, looking down at my feet as I held onto my sore arm. Eiji was lucky to have a good sensei like her. It made me kind of jealous… Yea, I knew Kazuya cared, but he didn't treat me so well as a 'family friend'

And it wasn't just because I had a crush on his sister…

But it was fine. I was used to people treating me like crap. The whacks I took from my teammates and sensei were nothing, but small jabs in my ribs compared to what I had dealt with before. I could handle it just fine…

So why I was falling on my knees again…?

Goddamn it… I really needed a smoke…

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A/N: I'm actually content with how this turned out. Rather short, but no worries. Long ones later. I just had to post one last chapter before I went to bed so I could dream up the next couple chapters. ;D omg… I felt sad when I wrote Nero's pig. TwT; I was listening to Sadness and Sorrow again for that bit and I was just like… EH! xD You'll learn more about him in future chapters, so sorry if his past confuses you. He just likes to take his time, be all cool and mysterious-like in hiding it. lol. Anyway, thanks uber lots for reading, hopefully the OCs are in character, and your reviews are just as loved as ever!