Chapter 25
"DAISUKE-KUN, SUSUMU-KUN, AOBA-SENSEI..?" I practically scream into the atmosphere. No response was heard.
I whine a little, more and more scared by the second.
"This is not cool.." I groan, looking around, jumping at every little sound. I swear, I'll faint if something suddenly jumps ou-
"HEY LOOK SHIKAMARU!" Someone exclaims, jumping out from a tree randomly.
I scream at the top of my lungs, my heartbeat increased to the maximum, and my body feeling numb from the fright. I stop screaming and take a deep breath.
"O-oh! Sorry I didn't mean t-"
He was cut off by me letting out another scream. A hand was suddenly slapped across my mouth, resulting in a muffled scream.
"Hush! Do you want us to be killed?" A female's voice gushes.. now that I kinda pay attention.. a familiar female voice. I blink and stop screaming. She removes her hand and stands beside me shaking her head.
"Heyyy I know you!" I say, looking at the blonde girl. She frowns. Then a third person jumps down, making me jump, then a fourth, making me stand up against Ino. Ino rolls her eyes and pushes me away.
"It's just Shikamaru and Asuma-sensei, sheesh calm down." Ino complains.
I take a big sigh of relief. Asuma-sensei looks around, a cigarrette sticking out of his mouth. "You out here alone, Setsuki?" He inquires.
"W-well.. er... how do I put this?"
"... Your squad ditched you?" Shikamaru inquires.
"Sorta.." I reply.
"What do you mean, sorta?" Shikamaru asks.
"We-"
"Want a chip?" Choji asks, holding out his chip packet to me. I blink, then smile.
"Hai! Arigato!" I reply, taking a chip from his packet, and eating it in one bite.. suddenly getting the craving for more. I stare at his packet with hunger. Choji blinks then gives me a slight glare. I blink and back off, hiding behind Ino who just sighs.
"As you were saying..?" Asuma-sensei mentions.
"Er, well I.. got left behind in a way.." I explain.
"Left behind... and how did that happen, exactly?" Asuma-sensei asks.
I take a deep breath. "!" I exclaim.
They all give me blank expressions. ".. Can you repeat that, slower?" Ino asks.
"ANDTHENIGOTLOSTAN-"
"SLOWER!" Ino shouts, making me shut up.
"... I rescued some kids and and and my squad kept on going and then and then I got lost an-"
"Alright. That about sums it up I suppose-"
"OH MY GOD WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?" Ino screams over the top of Asuma-sensei, finally noticing my clothing. I blink. "WH-WHAT IS THAT HIDEOUS THING?"
"This?" I inquire, gesturing to my beloved green suit. Her face lost all color. "It's Gai-sensei's ultimate training suit! You should get one Ino! It's really ama-"
"EW EW EW TAKE IT OFF! UGH THATS DISGUSTING!" She complains.
My eye twitches. "But.. if I take it off.. I'll be naked.." I say. All of them face palm.
"Lets change the subject.. which way did your squad go?" Shikamaru asks. I shrug, making him sigh. "So troublesome.."
"Well surely you'd have some idea. Where was your squad headed?" Asuma-sensei asks.
"Er, the lodging town to get a bad guy for our mission." I answer.
"That's not that far from here. Shikamaru, would you mind..?" Asuma-sensei inquires, looking at his student. Shikamaru gives him that sincerely annoyed expression.
"Do I have to..?" Shikamaru grumbles.
"Yes.." Asuma-sensei replies.
"Ugh.." Shikamaru sighs dramatically and faces me with that bored look of his. "What a drag.."
"Thank you Shikamaru~" I chirp. He rolls his eyes and puts his hands in his pockets.
"Come on then.." He grumbles and begins walking.
"You know where to meet us, Shikamaru?" Asuma-sensei asks.
"Hai hai.." Shikamaru grumbles.
"Bye guys!" I say, waving at them, then I stop. "Um.. Choji-san..?"
"Hm? .. NO THEY'RE ALL MINE!" Choji shouts then takes off literally hugging his chip packet. I sweatdrop.
"I just wanted to know where you got your scarf from..." I say, but was left unheard.
".. Eh, lets go Ino." Asuma-sensei says then jumps off, Ino nods and quickly follows.
"Are you coming..?" Shikamaru inquires, looking back at me.
"Huh? Oh, yosh!" I reply, then quickly run a few steps to catch up, and walk beside him.
"You know... only you would get left behind by your squad, you know that.. right?" Shikamaru says.
"...? What do you mean?" I ask.
Shikamaru looks up at the sky shaking his head. "Don't worry.." He sighs.
So after an hour of me telling Shikamaru allllllll about my week and his facial expression never once changing from his frowny look, we finally arrive! I look around with a smile, then Shikamaru suddenly turns around.
"H-hey, where are you going?" I inquire, stopping to look back at him.
"Well, you're here now, I need to get back to the others." He bluntly replies.
"But.."
"See ya." He says, then within a second, jumps away, leaving me there.. alone...
But when I three people walk past I calm down, at least I'm not completely alone now. I begin wondering through the street, and the further I walk, the more people I find!
I walk past a building that seems to be a hotel, and there were workers up on ladders fixing a reeeeeaaaallly big hole in the wall. I tilt my head with interest, and approach the site.
"Excuse me..?" I say, getting one of their attention.
"Huh? What is it?" He asks.
"What happened!" I question.
"Ah, something about some Konoha ninjas like yourself taking on two AKATSUKI!" He exclaims.
"A-Akatsuki!"
"Yeah, something to do with conflict between Uchihas or something." He says.
I blink. 'Was this maybe related to the incident Gai-sensei talked about..?' I look at the hole again and my eyes widen. 'If those Akatsuki members did this.. then imagine what they could do to a person..!' I shiver at the thought.
"W-well that's certainly.. scary.." I say.
"Damn straight. I'd hate to come across one.." He says.
"Eh.. I should get going now..." I say, then kinda just walk away.
As I look around, I realize it's going to be practically impossible to find these three..
"LEAF HURRICANE!"
"Huh?" I look up seeing a random guy being thrown across the air, he lands at my feet, and I blink out of confusion. I look up again, seeing... myself? Running towards me, the other me does a few hand signs.
"WATER GUN JUTSU!" She shouts. My eyes widen and I quickly jump to the side as she shoots out a gush of water at the guy.
"Setsuki! That's enough!" Aoba-sensei calls, jumping down beside the other me. As soon as he saw me, he tilts his head and looks between the two of us. "What the...?"
"Hey hey!" Daisuke exclaims, jumping down from somewhere, Susumu following seconds later. He blinks. "Why are there two Setsuki's?"
"I dunno!" I exclaim.
"Baka! You're a baka!" The other me exclaims at me. "Baka baka! Did you not forget I'm your clone!"
I blink. "Clone?"
"Gargh!" She face palms herself.
"Clone..? I don't recall you preforming the clone jutsu, Setsuki." Aoba-sensei says to the clone.
"Ugh! Tell them yourself, baka." My clone says then collapses to a puddle of water. All eyes turn to me, and I sweatdrop.
"Er... sh-shouldn't we deal with this guy?" I suggest, gesturing to the guy laying half unconscious on the ground with my thumb.
"Yes... strange, anyway. Seems finding this guy wasn't so hard after all." Aoba-sensei says, turning his attention to the guy. I quickly, and quietly, sigh of relief.
"Shigeki Masataro. He has the distinct white hair, and the scar down his left cheek. It's him alright." Susumu says.
"Hey, you, Masataro, you're coming with us, any objections will be held against you. Now hand over the scroll you stole." Aoba-sensei says, holding his hand out to the guy.
Masataro opens an eye and growls. "You think your petty Genin can defeat ME?" He snarls, jumping to his feet.
"Tch..! He was faking!' Susumu exclaims.
"I got this!" I exclaim, then randomly cling to the guy.
"GET OFF ME YOU LITTLE BITC-"
"SETSUKI WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING NOW?" Susumu questions. I cling tighter, even wrapping my legs around the guy, making sure he can't move his arms.
"I'ma holdin' him down!" I exclaim.
There was a moment of silence.
"... Well are you guys going to do something?" I finally ask, wondering why they're not moving. Then I look at them and realize they look like they're in some sort of trance. "What the..?"
"What's wrong little girl..? Don't know Genjutsu when you see it?" Masataro snickers. My eye twitches.
'Did.. did he just.. say... GENJUTSU? CRAAAA-'
"Now get the hell off me!" He shouts then somehow slides out of my grip with a jump, making me fall on my butt. I felt something extremely heavy hit the back of my head, and I blacked out.
...
"Shut it."
...
"Setsuki, seriously, shut up."
...
"Someone please wake her up.."
"SETSUKI!" Shouts a young-sounding voice.
My eyes snap open and I cling to the pillow I was hugging.. well at least.. I thought it was a pillow..
"Finally, geez I thought you'd never shut up."
"Daisuke?"
"Yeah?" He replies. I heard a muffled snigger and look down, realizing what I was clinging to... Konohamaru's head.. in my chest... I immediately let go and push him off, then saw his pink cheeks.
Daisuke laughs. "Geez I've never seen someone talk so much in their sleep." Daisuke says.
"I don't talk in my sleep." I say.
"Oh, my bad, you sleep fight. You know, all the leg-swinging and the 'Leaf Hurricane-ing' and stuff." Daisuke scoffs.
"Naruto-nii-chan was right about you Setsuki-nee-chan." Konohamaru says.
"About what?" I inquire, sitting up.
"You are on the small side.." He says with a small grin forming. I had no comment to that, so I remain quiet.
"Heh, don't worry, she'll grow out." Daisuke says, ruffling Konohamaru's hair.
"I wonder if they'll be big!"
"Yeah, the bigger the better!" Daisuke concurs.
"But then again, what if they stay small?" Konohamaru mentions.
"Then that wont be good." Daisuke says. "I wonder if there's like food or something that makes them grow!"
"Oooh! If there is then we should make every girl in the village eat it!" Konohamaru agrees.
"Yeah! Particularly Setsuki."
"Hai hai!"
"CAN WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T INVOLVE MY BOOBS?" I finally shout, interrupting their little happy moment. They both blink and look at me, then crack up laughing. I sigh - boys will be boys.
I took this time to examine the room.. the cursed hospital... I get anime tears.
"How long am I stuck in here for?" I whine.
"Huh? Oh they said you're okay to go when you wake up." Daisuke says. I smile.
"Okay, out we go." I say, jumping up from the bed, and walk to the door. I open the door, about to run out when I trip on the bottom part of the door frame, but as I fall I hit something, or rather someone, and they fall on top of me. I land on my back, then all of a sudden, Lee's face.. inches from mine...
Both our eyes widen and we struggle to try and move. I try to sit up, and Lee pushes himself up to his knees with one arm, allowing me to slide out from underneath him, then I quickly stand up and help him to his feet.
"A-Are you alright L-Lee-san!" I question, feeling my cheeks burning up. His face was red, maybe he was sick..?
"Y-Yes I am fine.. a-are you alright?" He asks, grabbing hold of his crutch and standing himself up properly.
"The bastard's slick.." Daisuke grumbles, glaring at Lee. I took no notice.
"Are you sure y-you're alright? You look kinda red in the face." I mention. Lee looks at me.
".. S-so do you Setsuki-san." He replies.
"Can we get moving..?" Daisuke inquires, slightly nudging me.
"Oooh I think Daisuke-san is jealous!" Konohamaru chimes. Daisuke's eye twitches and he turns to Konohamaru with a fist raised.
"What'd you say!"
"You heard me!" Konohamaru shouts back.
"I'MA TEAR YOUR LITTLE HEAD OFF YOU LITTLE!"
"... Erm.. lets just leave these two.." I say. Lee nods in agreement, and so I walk with him back to his room, leaving Daisuke and Konohamaru to argue.. loudly.
Lee sits on his bed, and I just stand there. "Wait... why are you in the hospital.. again?" Lee inquires.
"Well I... don't know.." I reply, becoming confused as to why I was even there in the first place.
"Oh, we-"
"Waiiiit! Wait wait, I remember now! I think it was when I was fighting that guy! Yeah! He knocked me clean out!" I exclaim. Lee sweatdrops. Then I realize something.. did we end up getting the scroll? "E-eerrrrr not being rude but I gotta go find Aoba-sensei!" I exclaim.
Lee nods in understanding. "Hai, I hope to see you again soon Setsuki-san! ...?" Lee blinks. "Setsuki-san?"
I was already running down the streets searching for Aoba-sensei.. but who knows where he is. "AOBA-SENSEI! AO-"
"Sheesh! Setsuki shut up!" Susumu shouts, jumping down in front of me, making me jump.
"DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT!" I complain.
"STOP SHOUTING!"
".. Okay.."
He rolls his eyes. "What are you shouting about?" He asks.
"I'm looking for Aoba-sensei!" I say.
"Why..?"
"Coz I wanna know if we got the scroll!"
"We did."
"Oh... okay~!" I chime, then walk around him. "See ya later." I say, going to put my hands in my pockets, but only end up sliding them against my thighs.. there are no pockets in this training suit. I sigh, thats a bit of a let down. But oh well! "Hm.. what kind of mischief should I get up to?" I ponder aloud to myself.