That night, Kawai and I were back at my house. I could tell that she was nervous about going to sleep.
"Do you want me to sleep in here again?" I asked her. She nodded.
I awoke to sunlight streaming through the window. We had a little extra time that morning, since the tournament didn't start until 10:00.
I got up and got dressed. Kawai woke up a few minutes after I did, and she got dressed as well. We set out for the "arena", which was actually just a clearing in the woods. I tried not to let it show, but I was pretty excited.
A few minutes later, we arrived at the clearing. Team Guy was already there, as well as Sakura.
"Hey guys!" Sakura called us over to where she was standing, talking with Ten Ten.
"Kawai, this is Ten Ten, Negi, Lee, and Guy Sensei," Sakura informed her, pointing to each ninja in turn. "Everyone, this is Kawai." Kawai smiled and waved.
The three girls went off to go talk and do whatever girls do. That left me and Negi. (Guy and Lee were at the edge of the clearing doing push-ups on their thumbs.)
"So that girl... She just appeared? In the woods?" Negi asked me. I nodded.
"And she's the only survivor from her village..." he mused.
Just then, Kurenai's team arrived. I could hear Akumaru barking happily as he charged into the clearing with Kiba.
"The party has arrived!" he shouted. I just rolled my eyes and looked unimpressed.
"Hey Hinata!" Sakura called. "Long time no see!"
"Oh, hi," Hinata replied quietly. She was always quiet. I wonder why.
As soon as Shino had walked into the clearing, Naruto came racing in. He skidded to a halt, spraying Negi and I with dust.
"Loser," I muttered.
"I'm not late, am I?" Naruto looked around wildly.
"You're ten minutes early, knucklehead," Sakura replied dryly.
She turned to Kawai. "This is Hinata, Kiba, Shino, and Kurenai Sensei," she informed her.
"Hi," Kawai said to them.
A few minutes of chatter went by. Asuma's team arrived, and joined the group. Now the only person we were waiting for was Kakashi.
"Kakashi Sensei," Naruto said. "He couldn't come to a place on time to save his life.
Finally, fifteen minutes after ten, Kakashi arrived.
"Sorry I'm late," he said. "My laundry blew away, so I had to go collect it all."
"It's not even windy today!" Sakura protested.
"Well then," Guy said. "Let's begin."
Thanks to XxAshishxX for reviewing again and nachobeats823 and bloodfirexT for following! I have published my new Naruto story, Desert Radiance! It's going to be staring Gaara and my OC Akurui. I'm also going to start a poll for your favorite Naruto character, and whoever wins at the end of the month will star in my next story. Thanks for reading!
P.S. I know at this point in the anime the other Genine aren't supposed to be introduced yet, but for the story's sake, I'm going to overlook that.