Chapter 31
I get dressed as quick as I can, into my original ninja attire, because my training suit still needs to be washed.. man I'm getting forgetful. I then run to the bathroom, brush my hair roughly and tie my Konoha headband around my forehead like usual, then run down the hallway, almost tripping over my own feet as I get to the end of it.
"I'm ready!" I announce. They both look at me, Takashi puts his cup down and sighs.
"Your shirt's inside out." He says. I look down, then sweatdrop.
"Setsuki.." Naruto sighs. "Even I'm not that bad, dattebayo."
"... Pfft." I poke my tongue out at him childishly. "Two seconds is all I need to fix i-"
"Two seconds just passed.." Takashi chimes. I frown, then take a few steps backwards down the hallway until I knew they can't see me, then quickly take my shirt off, flip it the right way out then put it back on, and walk out again. "Ready now?"
"Hai!" I exclaim, then head to the door, but then quickly realizing something. "But I'm hungry.."
"Ah you can always go get ramen for breakfast like you normally do." Takashi says.
"Yeeaaahh, like I normally do... lets go Naruto-kun!" I say, quickly reaching for his wrist then bolting out the door, dragging him.
"Gah! Setsuki! Slow down!" Naruto shouts.
"NO!" I exclaim, then run faster.
We arrive outside the Academy, looking up the top of the tallest part of the building, where Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya-sama, Homaru-sama and Koharu-sama all stood. Tsunade-sama is wearing the Hokage hat.. the very hat of which I hope to see on Naruto-kun's head one day.
I look around, there aren't many people here. "Hey Naruto-kun." I say, looking around. There was no response. I look back the way we came, seeing if Uncle Takashi was coming. He wasn't. "Hey, hey Naruto-kun." I say again. Still no response. I pout then look to where Naruto was standing.. he was gone. "Naruto?" I ask, looking around for him. I fold my arms. "He ditched me!" I whine. I fold my arms with a pout while waiting for everyone in the village to arrive so the celebration can begin.
"SETSUKI-CHAN!"
I blink and turn my head back slowly. Daisuke was running towards me.. it was like slow motion, especially because of the fact his arms are spread in a hug gesture. I sidestep a second before he reaches me, but leave my foot there, tripping him over, making him faceplant into the ground.
"Haahahahaa." Susumu laughs, standing beside me. I jump.
"Wah! Don't scare me like that!" I gush at him. Susumu just smirks. Daisuke stands up with dirt all on his face, frowning.
"Heh, you look like shi-"
"Shh! They're starting to announce something!" I exclaim, looking up at the building. Tsunade steps forward to the railing, and takes the hat off.
"Starting today, I will govern the Village of Konoha! I am the Fifth Hokage!" Tsunade announces. The crowd cheers loudly.
About a week passed from that day, and there I was walking around with Lee. No particular reason, I just found him walking around pondering, so I decided to join him.. though.. he was rather quiet, and he's been staring at the ground this whole time too, but he claims that everything is fine..
"... Er, hey! Lee! Wanna get some ramen?" I ask, giving him a huge smile, trying to be enthusiastic. Lee finally looks up at me and blinks.
".. Hai. That sounds nice.." He replies, giving a slight smile. I knew it wasn't good enough.. maybe something else. I got an idea.
"And I'll pay!" I exclaim.
"Are you sure?" He asks. I give him a thumbs up.
"Hai!" I exclaim, giving him a big smile. He smiles bigger and gives a nod, then looks ahead. 'Still not enough.. hmm... oh! I know!' "And you can have as much ramen as you like!" I exclaim. He gives a small chuckle.
"You are very generous Setsuki-san!" He exclaims, smiling at me again. I grin. 'Yes! He's happy! Ramen always makes people happy!' "Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Oh and afterwards... um... we could.." I pause, completely clueless. Lee looks at me, waiting for me to conclude my sentence. I laugh nervously and scratch the back of my head.
"I know what you are thinking, Setsuki-san." Lee says. I face him and tilt my head.
"Whaddaya mean?" I ask.
"Well. It is obvious what you are trying not to suggest so you do not hurt my feelings. But it is okay Setsuki-san!" He says. I remain clueless.
"Eh?"
Lee blinks.
"What are you talking about?" I ask.
"Why, training of course!" He exclaims, getting a fist of determination. I blink a few times.
"I never thought of that!" I say. Lee gags then faces me with shock.
"What? You did not consider such a vital thing?" He questions. I raise my hands up and wave them around defensively.
"I-I-I.. was distracted!" I exclaim.
"HOW COULD YOU BE DISTRACTED FROM TRAINING?" He questions, getting close to my face, making me sweat.
"E-errr b-by that!" I exclaim, pointing to the sky randomly.
"Huh?" He looks up curiously, then I use this small distraction to slide around him and stand a few feet away. "I do not see it..?"
"I know! It's distracting huh." I say. Lee tilts his head in confusion.
"Lee! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you."
We both turn our heads to the left and blink. "Tsunade?" I inquire with a blank expression. 'What could she possibly want with Lee-san?'
"Yes..? What is it Tsunade-sama..?" Lee asks, turning to face her completely. I see him stand up straight from the corner of my eye, then quickly do the same.
With a rotation of her left shoulder, Tsunade gets a confident expression and begins to speak. "I can see that you are.. busy." She chuckles, looking between Lee and I. I just return a blank expression. "However, I would like to have a word with you, if that's alright..?" She inquires.
"Oh, sure." Lee replies with a full nod of his head.
"Can I come?" I ask, then sweatdrop. I need to think before I act more often. Tsunade looks at me pondering for a moment, creating an awkward silence. She then turns her attention back to Lee. "Er, sorry.. I get carried away.." I imply, holding my hands behind my back, and digging my toes into the footpath nervously.
"No that's alright. Hm, we wont be very long. If you wait here, I'll bring Lee back soon enough." Tsunade says. I quickly salute.
"Kay!" I exclaim, then plop down on the ground and cross my legs and sit my arms in my lap smiling up at them. Lee sweatdrops.
"I.. meant around here, not in the middle of the footpath." Tsunade says with a small sigh while shaking her head. I blink then shuffle over the tiniest bit.
"This better?" I ask. Tsunade had that look Takashi has when he wants to hit me over the back of the head. I remain quiet and shuffle over a few inches to the side of the footpath. "This...?"
"That will do." Tsunade groans. "Now! Come on Lee." Tsunade says in her tough voice, and begins walking off the way she came, her heels clicking against the ground loudly. Lee follows, pushing himself slightly to keep up, which made me frown slightly.
With my boredom of waiting, I create a small puddle beneath me and use my chakra to rise water up and create strange and interesting water movements with it. Eventually, I felt like I shouldn't waste so much chakra, so I just sat there in the puddle, my elbow rests on my leg, and my hand holding my head up and my right eye closed and my other half open.
"Near your window? That's kinda creepy if you ask me."
I look up recognising that as Sakura-chan's voice. She was walking with Ino. "I know, personally it's bugging me. I mean, what if he sees me while I'm changing or something?" Ino replies. My head follows them as they walk past.
"That's when I come around and pound him! Cha!" Sakura replies, slamming her first into her other hand.
"Who?" I inquire.
"Ha! Nah I'm quite capable of taking care of it myself." Ino says with a smug tone, and brushes her fringe out of her face femininely.
"Who?" I ask, raising my voice, managing to capture their attention.
"... Why are you sitting in a puddle..?" Sakura inquires. I shrug.
"Coz I feel like it." I reply.
"... I'm not even going to comment." Sakura sighs.
"Hey, you're not wearing that pickle!" Ino exclaims.
"Pickle..?" I inquire.
"That hideous green thing." Ino says.
I pout. "It's not hideous! It's AWESOME!" I exclaim, standing up, then feeling my butt and back of my legs all wet. It actually made me feel like going swimming.
"Ha! Is that what you weirdos call awesome?" Ino scoffs, then laughs. I look at Sakura with an annoyed expression, she just rolls her eyes.
"I thought you didn't like Ino..?" I mention.
"Ugh, just because we're rivals doesn't mean we have to be bitter towards each other all the time!" Sakura exclaims.
"But.. but Naruto-kun and Sasuke-chan do!" I imply.
"They're boys!" Sakura shouts.
"So?" I question.
"Boys are douches." I hear behind me. My eyes widen from the scare and I turn around seeing that red-headed Inuzuka girl from the Chuunin Exams. Sakura frowns at the sight of her. I remain silent and stand behind Sakura. "I should know. I gotta put up with two losers all the time." She says, leaning to the side with a hand on her hip. Down beside her was her dog, of whom I have completely forgotten the name of. In fact, I can't even remember her name. I just remain silent to avoid the awkwardness. She looks at me. "What 'appened to you? Lost ya voice or somethin'?" She inquires.
"No.." I reply, awkwardly looking the other way.
"Ha! I'm scaring you aren't I?" She says, then cracks up laughing. Her dog joins in. Sakura face palms.
"Ugh! Your attitude reminds me of Kiba!" Ino gushes.
"Kiba? Well we are from the same clan, and believe me, Kazumaru ain't that different either." She says. "What was you're name again?"
I let out a sigh of relief. At least I'm not the only one forgetting names. "I'm Kuromizu Setsuki!" I reply, extending my arm out with a thumbs up toward her, and giving a wink.
Her face loses color, and Sakura stares at me with horror. "You are a spitting image of Lee-san.." Sakura says. I grin goofily and scratch the back of my head.
"Well I'm Inuzuka Akakaze, and this is Shiro incase you had forgotten.. which it seems ya have." She says. I click my fingers.
"I knew thaaat!" I exclaim.
".. Well anyways, why were ya all complainin' 'bout boys?" Akakaze inquires, looking at Sakura.
"Well apparently Kiba has been watching Ino, peering in on her through her bedroom window!" Sakura exclaims. I gasp.
"I always knew there was something weird about him." I say.
"Weird? More like a total dumbass. Kiba's always bitchin' about how Akamaru is this, Akamaru is that wah wah wah!" Akakaze scoffs, then places a fist in her hand. "Shiro is the best ninken and there's no doubt about it!"
"Yeah!" I concur randomly. Akakaze smirks toward me, then faces Ino.
"Well I'll beat the crap outta that dork for ya mate." Akakaze says then all of a sudden, jumps off within a few seconds, her dog following quickly.
"Mate? She's a weird one I tell you." Ino says.
"She's always been weird, or didn't you notice that in the academy days?" Sakura replies.
"Yeah I know." Ino replies.
"Soo onto the next agenda, why were you sitting there, on the side of the footpath, on the ground, in a puddle..?" Sakura inquires.
"I was waiting. I still am waiting." I reply.
"For..? Be specific, you know I don't like it when you give pointless answers like that." Sakura says. I look around.
"Waitin' for Lee-san." I reply with a small smile. Ino and Sakura smirk and look at each other, then nod. I show a blank expression. They both face me, suddenly all happy-like. It honestly freaked me out a little.
"Soo, you and Lee huh?" Ino chimes. I could already tell from last time where this was going. I had to think of a way out of this situation.. fast.
"OH MY GOD IT'S BACK!" I shout, looking up at the sky with wide eyes and a purely shocked expression.
"Huh?" They both look up and I quickly look left then right then left again, and then take off as fast as I could. Next task; find Lee.