The One and Only Team 7
I woke up but purposely kept my eyes closed. I shifted into a more comfortable position and noticed I could feel arms around me.
"Gemma get off... your hugging me in your sleep again..." I mumbled. I rolled over and fell asleep again.
Until I felt something shaking me...
"Five more minutes Mom..." I said groggily, pressing my face into the pillow.
"Wake up you've got to go see Kakashi-sensei" said a boy's voice.
Eh? Who's Kakashi?
I opened my eyes. Sasuke was blurry at first but then my vision sharpened.
HOLY--!! So... it wasn't a dream?
"Thought of a name yet?" I mumbled sleepily.
"Name?" he repeated.
"Am I supposed to walk around being called 'IT'?" I said grumpily, mornings were not my thing, I was a major night owl.
"Kazari'll do for now" he said huffily, obviously saying the first name that came to his head.
"What does it mean?" I asked confused. Well I'm not Japanese and I only know odd words from random Anime's.
"Decoration."
Am I a freaking Christmas tree?
"That's nice" I said, about to fall asleep again. I am just TOO tired to care right now.
"Kari, you've got to go see Kakashi-sensei" Sasuke said.
Wasn't it Kazari a minute ago? Oh well I like Kari better anyway.
"Why... and what time is it anyway?" I said, wondering how premature my rude awakening really was.
"Here's your bag get ready" Sasuke said, throwing a bag I recognised as my own at me. I managed to catch it before it hit me in the face.
"You've got ten minutes or I'm going without you" he said, completely ignoring my question.
Miserable, idiotic, mean, anime person...
I reluctantly got up. I don't know where my bag came from but I was sure as hell glad it was here.
I did the usual morning routine in record time, then walked over to Sasuke who was impatiently waiting for me.
"Here are your katana's" he said handing me two swords, each in a sheath. I blinked and looked at them. They were really light in weight, sheathed in a smooth...to be honest I have no idea what the sheaths was made of. They were black and looked snug around the thin blades.
Since when did I have swords?
Don't they know I shouldn't be trusted with dangerous, sharp, pointy things?
Ah well, their loss.
"Come on already, or we'll be late" Sasuke said annoyed.
"So what time is it anyway?" I repeated.
"5am" he replied, looking at me like I was a complete and total idiot and I should know the time automatically. 5am... and I thought 10am was flipping early...
We walked for a while, Sasuke doing a brisk power walk with his hands shoved in his pockets, me dragging my feet and wistfully dreaming of going back to sleep.
After about ten excruciatingly LONG minutes we arrived at a... bridge. Sasuke stopped and I had an immense urge to just put my head against his shoulder blades and drift into a blissful little doze. Somehow though, I just knew he wouldn't let me.
Ten minutes or so after that, another boy arrived.
He glared in the direction of Sasuke, eyes narrowing in dislike.
"Sasuke."
"Loser" Sasuke replied acknowledging the boy.
The boy continued to glare at Sasuke, while Sasuke completely ignored him. Then the boy looked over at me.
At once, his annoyance disappeared and a huge, goofy grin spread across his face and I noticed three whisker-like markings on each of his cheeks, curving with his smile. He walked, well, more like bounced, up to me.
"HI THERE I'M UZUMAKI NARUTO AND IM GONNA BE THE NEXT HOKAGE, DATTEBAYOOO!!" he shouted lodly and proudly.
How on earth he had so much energy this early in the morning is beyond me.
"Call me Kari!" I said smiling.
Naruto seemed like a nice guy and some of his confidence and energy seemed to automatically rub off on me. So this was Naruto huh? The nine tailed fox and master of eating ramen. His personality was awesome I liked him already! I took in his appearance. He was an inch or two shorter than me, even with his spiky hair. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit with a blue stripe across his shoulders and collarbone. His collar was white an sort of ruffled looking. He had the most beautiful bright blue eyes I've ever seen, that seemed to hold a spark, which was even more noticable when he smiled. His golden hair was spiked, reminding me of the Sun. Keeping his bangs out is face was a blue headband with a silver piece of metal, just like Sasuke's which I failed to notice until now because I was so sleepy.
"SASUKE-KUUUN!!" cried a shrill voice. I looked round and saw a girl running towards us.
I stared horrified.
"It's so... pink!" I whispered as I cringed.
That made my heart aches... A few of my friends favourite colour was pink.
Why I will never know.
Gemma and Sam like the colour pink and I... well I think pink stuff should be burned.
Sasuke smirked slightly and Naruto burst out laughing.
The girl stopped and looked at me, mint green eyes puzzled.
"Who're you?" she said.
"She's new Sakura" Sasuke said. The Sakura girl's face lit up with delight when Sasuke spoke to her.
"You look very nice this morning Sasuke-kun! Did you do something different with your hair?"
I just stared at her like she was the creepiest, weirdest, freakiest thing I'd ever seen. She was actually rather pretty, her pastel green eyes went well with her horribly bubble-gum pink rosaline hair. She wore a red dress, split up the side's to reveal dark shorts underneath. The dress had a white lining and a white circle on the front of the skirt. She wore her headband on the top of her head like a hairband. Her hair reached her mid-back. She looked an inch or two taller than me.
"Oh sumimasen! My name is Haruno Sakura" she said smiling. Sumimasen means sorry doesn't it? Well at least she seems pretty nice. But she was obviously giving this 'TOUCH MY SASUKE-KUN AND DIE' vibe.
"I'm Kari" I replied simply.
And so I talked with the three of them as we waited for this Kakashi person. Naruto explained how he was always late and probably wouldn't arrive until noon. Yet he still expected all of them to be here early.
I found it really easy to talk to Naruto, though it was rather difficult to get a word in when he got really into whatever he was talking about. I tried my best to get along with Sakura too, trying oh so hard to ignore the colour of her hair. She was actually really nice, friendly and talkative but not to the extent Naruto was. Heck, no one was probably as talkative as him.
Naruto explained about his Hokage dream and his passion for ramen, how he thinks Sakura-chan is really pretty but she's obsessed with Sasuke. Sakura punched him on the head for that. How he hadn't been a ninja that long but he was already a super cool, powerful ninja that could kick Sasuke's ass any day of the week. Sasuke scoffed, finally making a noise and told Naruto to dream on. Sakura agreed with Sasuke, saying the raven haired boy was definitely stronger. Naruto ignored them both and started explaining about how he used to pull the most daring pranks. Painting the sacred Hokage monument for example.
Sakura said how she'd liked Sasuke since she started the academy, though most of the girls were obsessed with him and drooled over him all the time. She grumbled a name like Eee-noh? But Sasuke was really strong and really good looking so it was probably to be expected. She blushed at this and started drawing circles in the grass with her finger. She said Naruto was always this annoying and was a real idiot because he skipped so many classes. Naruto cried indignantly that it was boring and completely useless.
Other than telling Naruto he was an idiot once or twice, Sasuke remained silent and ignored us all. He just stood against the bridge, arms folded over his chest ignoring everybody. When I asked if he was always like that Naruto immediately nodded and called him an asshole.
Just as I thought Sasuke was going to retaliate, a guy with silver hair appeared out of thin air, standing on the top of one of the bridge supports, while reading an orange book.
"Sasuke what does the front of that book say?" I asked him,seeing as Naruto and Sakura had jumped up, pointed at him accusingly and shouted 'YOU'RE LATE!' I tilted my head trying to make sense of the red squiggly lines that I guessed was the title. I didn't know any kanji at all. That's really unhelpful... Thank god these people speak english most of the time.
"Icha Icha Paradise, Make out paradise" he mumbled. Yet another perverted teacher. I guess you can't escape them...
Kakashi was tall, around six foot I'm guessing, but it's difficult to tell with his oddly shaped silver hair. He must hang upside down to style it in the morning. Almost all of his face was covered, save for his dark right eye. A mask covered the lower half of his face while a headband was across his forehead, tilted to cover his left eye. He wore a strange, padded green vest over a dark long sleeved shirt. He wore dark trousers too and wore them sandal things everyone seemed to wear, which opened to reveal the toes. It would be painful if someone stood of them... The man also wore gloves with a metal knuckle guard, and bandages round the visible part of his legs.
Kakashi looked over at me with his one visible lazy eye.
"Oh? Well what have we here?" he said looking over at me. I shifted, hiding behind Naruto slightly.
"I found her outside Konoha gates in the forest when I was training yesterday" Sasuke said. Kakashi looked at me interested.
"She'll have to see the Hokage and he can decide what to do next" Kakashi said.
"Yeah! Let's go see old man Hokage!" Naruto said happily. "C'mon Kari-chan we'll get you a place to stay and I'll show you round!" Naruto grabbed my hand and steamed ahead. The others trailed behind at a slower pace.
I looked at things as we passed. We passed a training ground before we entered the village again. People were busy with their everyday lives, bustling around and entering and exiting shops. Children ran around happily, with parents telling them to be careful. Birds flew over head and ninja jumped from roof to roof speedily. Roof to roof? Whoa!! It's so weird without cars and humungous buildings and technology and stuff. Still, I guess it means less pollution. The air smells so clean here.
Soon enough we arrived at a big place with a red roof, the place that I would see the Hokage. There was a sign with kanji on it, that Naruto told me meant fire. We walked up some stairs down a corridor or two until we were in front of a door. Kakashi knocked twice, the sound seeming to echo.
"Come in" came an old man's croaky voice. Naruto pushed the door open and bounced inside. He's like Tigger. Orange and bouncy. He even has stripes on his face...
"How may I help you?" the Hokage asked. He was seriously old... He must be near a hundred or something.
"This girl has been found outside the gates of Konoha and wishes to stay here" said Kakashi. The Hokage smiled at me as though I was his favourite granddaughter. Observing me over his folded hands.
"What's you name?" he asked. I didn't answer due to my shyness.
"She can't remember so for now she's being called Kari" Sasuke said, noticing my silence.
"And where do you come from Kari?" he asked.
"Somewhere far away..." I said quietly.
"Are you a shinobi?" he asked.
Sheenohwbee? What the hell?
"Ninja" Sasuke hissed under his breath.
"Um... I did martial arts and... stuff" I said, got to a blue belt in Tae Kwon Do if that counts and I've got my swords, though I highly doubt I can use them.
"Hm, how about a spar with Sasuke?" he asked, eyes drifting over to the raven haired boy beside me. EH?!
Sasuke nodded, showing he had no objections. I stood opposite him, while Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto stood against the wall giving us room.
"Begin" said the Hokage. I stood there unsure what to do. Sasuke was staring at me intently, as though waiting for me to make the first move. I watched him awkwardly, wondering if I should just charge at him and see what he does.
"KICK SASUKE'S ASS KARI-CHAN!!" Naruto hollered at the top of his lungs. Somehow the windows stayed intact.
I smirked, Naruto's words giving me confidence. I had a bit of a violent side to me and I was often told I was stronger than I looked. Oh God help me, don't let me humiliate myself...
Tired of waiting Sasuke charged at me. He threw a punch at incredible speed. I don't know how but I managed to dodge it easily. I didn't think I was this fast... My body seemed to just move on it's own, avoiding each and ever one of Sasuke's punches and kicks.
I pulled out my swords. I held them in font of me in a protective X shape. What the hell? I don't even know how to use these things! Well, no time like the present. Sasuke jumped higher than any normal human could, and I was reminded of the ninja jumping from roof to roof. I have got to try that later. I swung my swords at him, but he managed to block with a kunai. Seeing an opening, I kicked his leg and sent him flying into a wall. Crap! I didn't mean to kick him that hard... Or crack the wall...
"That's enough" the Hokage said putting an end to our spar. Sasuke got up looking annoyed. He folded his arms in front of his chest and humphed. The Hokage smiled, the patterns formed by his wrinkles deepening in his face. "I should've told you to spar outside, ah well my grandson..." he seemed to think better about going into a long story, or he just didn't want to go into it and changed the subject. "I believe you'd make a splendid ninja." He handed me a headband.
It consisted of a silver plate engraved with what looked like a 6 made into a leaf. The metal was attached to a light, black fabric. I smiled and tied it round my waist, feeling a sense of pride. When i asked Naruto abouthis headband incuriosity he explained how it makes him worthy of being a ninja of Konohagakure (here), worthy of fighting for his village to protect it.
"You can join team 7, as you have met with them already and seem to get along well" said the Hokage gesturing at the four ninja. Naruto grinned throwing his arm round my shoulder. Sakura smiled at me kindly and Sasuke spared me a quick glance, though he was clearly annoyed that he underestimated me.
"Finally! Someone I can have some fun with!" Naruto cried in delight. He seemed too innocent for that to sound as wrong as it did...
"Arigatou" I said. I didn't know much Japanese but I watched some Anime's and picked up random words.
"Douitashimashite" the Hokage replied. I think that long word means you're welcome? All five of us walked out the Hokage's office.
"Well we have missions tomorrow so I'll see ya then. Make Kari comfortable, you'll need to show her how things are done round here. Sayonara minna" Kakashi said disappearing in a poof of smoke. I knew 'sayonara' was good-bye. Minna... everybody?
"Wanna go get some ramen to celebrate Kari-chan?" Naruto asked. I hadn't tried ramen before and I didn't have any money. Naruto didn't wait for an answer, he just grabbed my hand and started dragging me along. Sakura and Sasuke followed behind us at a slower rate.
"Ichiraku ramen! Best ramen ever! Just wait! It's the most delicious thing you've ever tasted guaranteed!" Naruto cried excitedly. He must love that stuff... That or he's paid for advertising it. It's probably like me and cookies.
"Naruto I don't have any money" I said, slightly embarrassed.
"No, sweat! This is your first Ichiraku, your first meal in Konoha AND your first meal with the team! I'll pay for you!" Naruto cried at once.
"Aww thank you!" I cried, touched by his generosity. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into a grateful hug, It was kind of a tradition for me to hug my friends and Naruto's already in that category.
A light red dusted his cheeks as he seemed slightly taken back by the friendly gesture, but he quickly adjusted as a huge grin stretched across his face. Arm round me once more we strolled towards his favourite restraunt, where his beloved ramen awaits.