"Ugly duckling!" A girl said as she pushed me in the sandbox. The other girls around her giggled. I had to go to a different school then Rin and Yukio so they weren't there to help.
My unruly black hair had twigs and sand in it. My legs were covered in band-aids. And at the moment my nose dripped blood.
"You're so stupid too! My mommy told me stupid people tend to be ugly people! She was right!"
I heard it all before. I noticed I fell into someone's sand castle (or mound). I turned away from them and tried to fix it.
"You know my older brother goes to the same school as yours. He told me the younger one was a weak little crybaby. And that the other was just an evil liitle-" I stopped her when I punched her face.
The others gasped at me.
"DON'T YOU INSULT MY BROTHERS! MAKE FUN OF ME ALL YOU WANT, JUST DON'T BRING THEM THE FUCK INTO THIS!" I shouted. The others were cowering in fright while the girl I just hit was crying and shaking. I walked into the classroom to find the teacher.
"Sensei, I hit Kakagawa. May I call father?"
I opened my eyes then looked to see my hand up above my head. It was sore and I couldn't move my fingers.
"Looks like it's broken." I got up to tell Yukio. I walked in into his room to see him sitting on his bed.
"Yukio, I broke my hand." I said making him look at me in shock.
"H-how?"
"I must've been thrashing around in my sleep, I just woke up with it sore and swollen. I can't move my fingers either."
He sighed and held out his hand. I put my own on his and he felt around it. When I flinched in pain he sighed. "Yep that's broken. I don't see how you managed to do that, Nee-san."
I smirked, "I have many talents."
That caused him to smile a bit himself. He wrapped the hand tightly with bandages. "If you don't move it too much you'll be fine."
"Thanks Yukio."
Leo was shaking horribly and I tried to calm him down. "I'm sure you did fine Leo. If not, well, we could always perform with the others again to raise the money." I said reassuringly.
He smiled a bit and looked at my hand. "What happened? Try waking up Yukio?"
I chuckled, "No I was thrashing about in my sleep and hit the headboard."
He looked at me in wonder, "Bad dream?"
"No, I don't have bad dreams. Just… memories." I said in a dream-like state. He stared at me then pointed over to Bon and the others from cram school.
"We should catch up to them." He said with a soft smile.
We ran down the stairs and I hopped onto Bon's back. "Yo Bon!" I smiled as he just carried me and chuckled. Shima and Koneko-chan began whispering with Leo. I leaned my head back, "What 'cha whispering for?" I asked.
Shima and Leo smirked, "Nothing." I swear Leo is just like a slightly taller and brown haired Shima sometimes.
Yukio smiled at us, "Everyone is going to have a fun summer break from today right! However, all the Exwires will now be participating in a 'forest training camp'. You shall all do combat training in the 'academy forest section' for three days. Kirigakure-sensei and I will be leading the summer camp." Yukio said motioning to Shura.
She opened and closed her palm as a greeting, "Yoo-hoo!"
"The focus of the first half of the training camp will be strength training. The second will be a series of tests to see if you are ready to participate in real missions. This forest training camp will also serve as a test. So let's brace ourselves and go."
"Alright!" we all said.
"I don't feel like an exorcist." Bon complained, "I feel like on of those marching soldiers."
"It's so hot and my bags are heavy." Shima whined.
"I'm exhausted." Koneko-chan panted.
"There's so many mosquitoes here." Izumo stated.
"Rin look a waterfall!" I shouted excitedly.
"COOL!" we instantly ran ahead and found it. "I wonder if it's ok to drink from?" Rin wondered.
"I wouldn't, these are obviously the lower levels of the city." I said scoldingly.
"Why are they so energetic?" Bon asked.
"For whatever reason Okumuras seem to be full of energy. I mean Okumura-sensei doesn't look tired either." Shima reasoned.
"We'll set up tents here. While in the day this forest seems to be calm, at night it is a nest of lower-class demons. We'll need to finish setting up camp before dusk. Boys will be setting up fire and tents with me. The girls will be preparing the protective circle around the tents and dinner. With Kirigakure –san."
I watched as the boys set up the tents and Rin messed one up by hitting it. I laughed as he was getting yelled at.
"Oi, Utsukushi-chan, wanna go hunt for dinner?" Shura asked me. "Not that you aren't a great artist or anything, but you get distracted easily and." She pointed at my feet I had smeared the drawing.
"Ah, sorry. I'll go hunt." I rushed to my bag and grabbed a bow and a quiver of arrows.
I trekked around the forest but no matter where I went, there were no animals. It became dawn and I heard a growl from behind me. I didn't look behind me and just ran towards camp. I broke through the trees and saw Rin cooking for us.
"Ah good you came back alive." Shura said.
"What do you mean? I never saw one animal and now you're cooking." I complained.
They all just looked at me. "Shura-san, surely you didn't…" he sighed, "She did the same thing to me when I had to do this. There are only animals much further down the way. Even then it's illegal to hunt."
I stared at Shura in disbelief, then threw my bow and arrows down before sitting next to Bon and scarfing my face with the curry Rin made.
"You do know that's not good for the shape of the bow right?" Shura added.
"Shut up and eat." I said angrily.
She just giggled then burst out in laughter. "Ha! It's nice to see you when you didn't have a pole stuck up yer ass!" she shouted. That caused me to choke.
"What the hell do you mean?" I shouted back.
"Yer so much more laid back! When I first met you, you wouldn't speak unless spoken to, you sat up straight and would sit up properly to eat and everything! God it's nice to see Shiro's 'lovely little girl' so relaxed." She mused.
I blushed and looked away, "Don't call me that."
"Aw I miss the old times." Rin cut in. "Like the thing with the frogs, that was hilarious. Remember Utsu-chan? We put frogs in the old man's bath tub. The punishment was worth it!" He laughed.
"Really? You put frogs in his bath tub?" Bon asked me.
"The day before we went into preschool too." I smiled. "Want me to tell them about it?"
Rin's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, "Don't you dare!"
Yukio just smiled, "I'd love to hear it." Leo said with a smirk. The others nodded.
"Well, we had just got the uniforms for our classes. Mine was a dress. At the time I'd rather run around naked then in a dress or skirt." Shura and Shima laughed, "But Yukio and Rin had shorts and T-shirts. So while Rin was in the bath getting ready to leave, I stole his uniform and replaced it with my own. He was horrified and chased me around the house trying to get it back. Father got a few good pictures of it. In one of them he finally caught me and we were pulling on each other's hair and everything." Everyone laughed.
Rin smirked, "I remember when we were three and Yukio was the only one that wanted to wear clothes. Right out of the bath and we darted out with towels trailing behind us as capes."
"You almost made it out the door." I said smirking.
Yukio laughed, "I remember having to chase both of you along with the other monks. Father finally caught both of you and you looked so angry."
The three of us held a look of content on our face.
"… This is nice." I finally said, "I've never had a moment like this really."
Bon put his arm around me, "Well then we'll have to do this more often."
"Yeah!" Rin shouted. "More curry anyone?"
We all cheered happily.
AN: I feel like the frog bit was a bit weak so I threw in naked 3 year-olds as a bonus. :3
R and R
Tata for now 3