21-21. That was the sound I woke to, I passed out before I could even get to Lee. My eyes flickered opened, I was still exhausted. I was being carried. I looked up, and I saw Lee's face. Was he carrying me? I coughed in an attempt to clear my throat, unintentionally gaining Lee's attention. He grinned at me.
"Setsuki-chan! You are finally awake!"
I rub my eyes. "Lee-san.. who won?" I ask, my memory temporarily a blur.
"Me!" He giggled. I frowned. "21-21! We are now tied! Next time I definitely will not lose! I will win without failure!"
"No, I will win!" I retorted. Lee gave a smug expression and looked back at the road ahead.
"I guess you are probably right." He said in a soft tone. I blinked. "In that case, I must train myself harder! I know! We both must compete on who becomes Chuunin first!"
Now that was an idea. "There's Chuunin exams every year right?"
Lee nodded. "Right!"
"Lets re-enter this year!"
Lee flashed a smile. "We will need to talk to our senseis about it though.." He mentioned. He had a point.
"Well... maybe Gai-sensei can be our sensei for this year?" I suggested.
"Yeah! I am sure Gai-sensei would love that!" Lee agreed.
"Hahaha, I appreciate the thought, Setsuki." Gai-sensei chuckled. "AND OF COURSE I WILL ACCEPT!" Gai-sensei abruptly group hugged Lee and I really tightly.
"No. I refuse." Susumu said. Both he and Daisuke woke later on and found us with Gai then we asked.
"C'mon Susumu. It... should be fun!" Daisuke said. Suddenly Gai-sensei pulled Daisuke and Susumu into the group hug as well, squashing us all together.
"That's the spirit!" Gai-sensei chimed.
"Gai-sensei!" Lee whined. "You are so kind! It is simply inspirational!" Lee cried. My lip quivered.
"H-He's right!" I started to cry myself. "You are such a great man, Gai-sensei!" I cried. Gai-sensei started to shed tears. Lee and I hugged Gai-sensei even tighter! Daisuke and Susumu escaped the grip and frowned at us.
"You guys... are the greatest students I could ever ask for!" Gai-sensei cried, we all tightened our grip on each other and cried together. A big gust of wind blew through, throwing dirt around.
"Aww are you crying Daisuke honey?" Susumu scoffed, rubbing his eyes. Daisuke had tears running down his cheeks, rubbing his eyes also.
"N-No! Shut it bastard! I have dirt in my eyes!" Daisuke gushed. "What's wrong with you, princess!?"
"There's dirt in my eyes!" Susumu gushed back. The two of them sobbed quietly.
Someone approached us. He was a Jonin, and he was rather chubby with shaggy brown hair. He gave us a blank expression. "Huh..? Hey what's the matter with everyone?" He spoke in a deep voice.
We all stop and turn to him, then we all look at Gai-sensei with demanding expressions, wanting to know who this guy was. Gai showed a blank expression towards us then faced he guy with his hands on his hips.
"Who are you?" Gai-sensei asked.
"Oh, sorry, I'm Tekuno. Kanden Tekuno. You're all ninjas I see." He replied. He seemed really friendly.
"Yeah! We're really strong too!" I exclaimed.
"Is that right? Well maybe you can help me!" Tekuno said.
"With what?" Daisuke asked, rubbing his eyes still.
"I'm looking for a certain three Genin. I was assigned to look after them, since their current squad leader is away, but I completely forgot and got assigned another mission in the mean time.." Tekuno scratched the back of his head while nervously laughing.
"Yosh! We can search together!" I exclaim.
"I will help!" Lee announced. Tekuno smiled and chuckled.
"Thank you guys. I really appreciate it."
So Daisuke, Susumu, Lee and I all went searching for the Genin he was looking for.
We checked with Choji, Shikamaru and Ino. Asuma-sensei was still there. Then we proceeded onto Sakura-chan, Kakashi was away on a mission, but Sakura-chan was being trained by Tsunade. We then checked on Shino, Hinata and Kiba. Kurenai-sensei was still there. All of this took most of the day, it was now sunset.
We turn to Lee, but then we knew Gai-sensei was still here too. "Which squad have we missed?" Daisuke asked.
We look at Tekuno. "What were the names of the Genin?" Susumu asked.
"Um.. Well blimey I can't remember!" Tekuno scratched his stomach. "Maybe if I had a bite to eat.." He mumbled.
"RAMEN!" I shouted.
"Ramen! Now that sounds satisfying! Lets go, my shout! You four have done a great job trying to help." Tekuno said. I grin smugly. Lee gave a challenging smirk.
"... Oh boy.." Susumu grumbled. Lee and I raced off into the distance.
"I won! I did it! I won! Three times in a row!" Lee sang, jumping up and down. I frowned, pouting with my arms folded.
Finally Tekuno and the others came running along. They all seemed out of breath. Ichirakus wasn't even that far from where we were before. We sat down and wolfed down plenty of bowls. Tekuno wiped his mouth on a napkin and stacked up all the bowls and paid Teuchi. We all look at Tekuno expectantly.
"So.. remember anything?"
"Another bowl please!" I shouted over the top of Susumu.
"Coming right up." Teuchi replied.
".. Then I will have another bowl too, please!" Lee shouted.
"Coming right up!" Teuchi called back.
Lee and I grinned at each other.
"Yeah.. alright I'll have another 5." Tekuno said. We stared at him.
"Coming right up!" Teuchi called again.
Half way through eating, Tekuno lifted his head like he just remembered something. "I remember now! It was written on a slip of paper.. now where is it?" He searched through his jacket, every pocket and zip. Until he finally found a scrunched up piece of paper. He flattened it out on the bench, we all looked at it, leaning over it. We all fell to the ground after realizing.. it was us. Tekuno laughed nervously. "So it was you guys.. hahah... I guess that makes things easier..!"
"Seriously, you made us spend all this time and-"
"Shut up Daisuke. You got a free meal, be thankful for once." Susumu grumbled.
"Ahaha, don't fight! He has every reason to be mad I guess." Tekuno said, putting his hand on Daisuke's head, and rubbing his hair. Daisuke blinked in confusion.
"So we get to call you Tekuno-sensei?" I asked.
"Ahah, well sure! Call me whatever you like." Tekuno said, laughing gleefully.
"Then, Teku-sensei, can you help us?" I asked, giving him a nickname already.
He smiled at me softly. "Sure. You helped me, I can help you."
Daisuke and Susumu look at me curiously. "Can you train us? Like, train us really strong?!"
"Huh? Uh, well I don't see why not! You almost sounded like you were preparing for something..?"
"Yeah! We wanna reenter the Chuunin exams this year!" I exclaimed. Daisuke and Susumu blinked.
"Chuunin exams? Huh.. I wonder if it'll be as chaotic as last year.." Daisuke mentioned.
Lee suddenly shot up behind me, folded his arms on top of my head and leaned down, pushing me down to almost face-plant on the ground, and he stared Tekuno in the eye.
"Wah!"
"Tekuno-kun! Please note that no matter how hard you train Setsuki-chan, I, Rock Lee, Konoha's Handsome Devil, will always be there to rival her capabilities! I will always proceed to win against her! I will never lose a fight against h-"
I stood up, causing Lee to fall backwards, once he landed on the ground, I pointed at him. "Wrong! Lee-san!" I look at Tekuno. "I, Kuromizu Setsuki, Konoha's Blue Freak, will always continue to defeat Lee-san and-"
Lee stood up, swiftly lifting me off my feet, and hanging me over his shoulder. My eyes widened at the sudden movement. "Setsuki-chan! I do not approve of that title!"
"I came up with it myself!" I exclaimed.
"I do not like it!"
"I do!"
"I do not! I will decide on a title for you!"
"Like what, then?" I asked. I almost slid down off Lee, until he grabbed my leg with one hand, his shoulder was poking right into my gut. He had such a tough shoulder, so firm..
With his other hand, Lee put his finger to his chin in thought.
"Put me down!"
"Nope!"
"Lee-san!"
"Nope!"
I whined to myself. Then Daisuke stood intimidatingly in front of Lee, who didn't seem to take any notice. "She said put her down! Put her down!"
"AHA!" Lee shouted abruptly. "I have thought of a title!" Lee suddenly dropped me, then picked me up and stood me directly in front of him, so we were looking straight into each other's eyes. Daisuke almost chocked. I was covered in dirt now. For some reason, Lee's eyes seemed a lot more.. intriguing than before. We locked eye contact. Lee still had his hands on my shoulders.
I quickly blinked away all my thoughts, but continued staring into his, big, dark but cheery eyes. "What is it?" I asked.
"Setsuki, Konoha's Majestic Dewdrop!" He said with a huge grin. My eyes widened, and I felt my cheeks get hot. It sounded... amazing!
"Dewdrop?" Daisuke grumbled. Lee smirked and turned to Daisuke, almost challengingly.
"Setsuki-chan is a magnificent water user! Dewdrop is the perfect name! I.. I truly believe that!" Lee exclaimed.
Tekuno chuckled behind us in amusement. I scratch my cheek feeling a little shy for some reason. Lee turned to me again. "With no objections, I officially title you, Konoha's Majestic Dewdrop!"
I stared into his eyes again. Lee smiled somewhat gently. His eyes sparkled in the orange light of the lanterns hanging outside the shop. My stomach felt weird, it was tingling.
"Well seems that's settled." Tekuno laughed, he then stood up. "Do you two have titles as well?" He asked Daisuke and Susumu, who both shook their heads.
"No and I don't need one.." Susumu replied.
"... I could call myself the most handsome guy in the village though." Daisuke grinned. Susumu hit him over the head.
"Yeah right! You're the ugliest person I've ever seen!"
"Hey! You're not much better looking yourself, pineapple head!"
"What'd you just call me, Daisuke honey?!"
"Oh I see!" Tekuno interrupted them. He pointed at Susumu. "Pineapple, and.." he moved his finger to Daisuke. "Honey." he chuckled in amusement. Susumu and Daisuke lunged at Tekuno aggressively. Lee and I started to laugh. Suddenly, Daisuke and Susumu both went flying backwards. Tekuno stood unharmed. Their eyes widened. "And you two, I'll refer to you as Leek and.." He shifted his pointing finger from Lee to me. "Blueberry."
"Leek?"
"Blueberry?"
Lee and I give him blank expressions.
"What the hells with the food names?!" Daisuke questioned.
Tekuno started to laugh. "Well I just love food! So I'm naming you after foods that match your hair! Easier to remember your names that way... except you Lee, I based it off your clothes."
"You're gonna remember us with food?" Daisuke asked, unimpressed.
"Yay! Blueberry!" I chimed. Lee turned to Tekuno with an expression that looked like he had just come up with an entire contradiction to the nickname Leek.
"I am no Leek! If I were to be a food, I would be-"
"A celery stick." Daisuke snickered. Lee frowned, unimpressed about being cut off.
"No. Daisuke-kun. I would be a salad!" Lee exclaimed.
"A salad.. that's not a food, it's a combination of-"
Lee interrupted Susumu. "I am a unique combination of different flavours! All aspects about me are delicious, and also healthy!" Lee raised a finger as if proving a point. "With my presence, anyone, man or woman can stay youthful and healthy forever!"
Tekuno was surprised to see Lee had put in so much thought into it.
"Therefore, I shall be known as Salad!" Lee exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips just like Gai-sensei, then gave himself a nod of approval.
"Uh ahaha, okay okay, Salad it is then." Tekuno said. Lee smiled at turned back to me.
"Teku-sensei!" I shouted, gaining his attention. "If we all get to be food, then why don't we call you a food as well?"
Tekuno blinked. "Well, I don't see why not! But what food resembles me?"
We all face each other in thought. "Beef!" We all said at once.
"Beef?"
"Beef! You're big and tough like a piece of steak!" I said.
"Big?" Tekuno whined.
"And tough!" I added. Daisuke, Susumu and Lee nodded in agreement.
"Well.. if that's what you think, then sure!" Tekuno smiled. "Well since it's starting to get late, lets all go home and get a good rest. And we'll meet up here in the morning!"
We all nodded in agreement, then suddenly both Lee and Daisuke got in my face with fire in their eyes. They spoke at the same time, saying the exact same thing. "Setsuki-chan, allow me to walk you home!"
I blinked. They faced each other with a glare. "I asked first!" Daisuke growled.
"No I did!" Lee shouted. They both smashed their foreheads together, growling at each other. I don't think I've ever really seen Lee angry before. Susumu walked up behind me and tapped me on the arm. I face him.
"Come on." He said. I nodded and followed him. Susumu walked home with me. I said goodbye and went inside.
Lee and Daisuke never noticed I left with Susumu, they kept arguing until they stormed away from each other to go home.