Once more Kasumi's alarm was blaring, and once more she didn't bother to emerge from her covers to shut it off. Instead she just poked one hand out and flicked a rock at it. The alarm shut off and she let out a pleased sigh, sinking further into her pillow.
Kasumi felt herself starting to drift off again and let out an annoyed huff, throwing off her covers and heaving herself out of bed. She knew if she lay there any longer she'd pass right back out and miss orientation.
Kasumi passed by her radio and slapped it on, turning the volume up a couple of notches to help her wake up.
"Wait, it's just about to break, its more than I can take. Everything's about to change. I feel it in my veins, its not going away. Everything's about to change!" she sang along with the song as she got ready.
For the first time in a while she actually put a little bit of effort into her appearance, bothering with running a brush through her hair before tying it up with ribbons and wrapping a brown sash around her waist, strapping on her equipment pouch and kunai holder.
Kasumi headed for the door, and this time she paused. She reached for the hitai-ate, letting her fingers trail over the etched leaf in the metal. She grinned as she picked it up, raising it up. She put it on like a headband, the metal plate resting on top of her head, the ribbon knotted at the base of her skull over her hair.
Still ignoring her shoes, Kasumi headed out the door and to the Academy for the last time. When she arrived there, she was greeted with the sound of raised voices. Curious, she drifted towards the front of the class, where a knot of girls had gathered by a desk.
Kasumi took a wild guess and figured it had something to do with Sasuke.
"No, I get to sit by him!"
"I was here before both of you, so I get to sit by Sasuke!"
"Nuh uh, I got here first! I just… went to the bathroom."
"You snooze, you lose."
Nailed it.
Kasumi let out a truly mischievous grin and joined the back of the crowd.
"So, am I the only one who thinks his hair looks like a duck's butt?"
Dead silence fell over the group. Kasumi could feel herself get pinned by the laser-eyed glares of hate from the fangirls. Instead of shrinking like most people would in the face of fangirls, she just crossed her arms and grinned widely.
"Sasuke's hair is beautiful!"
"How would you even know?"
"How dare you?"
"Black as a raven's wing!"
This was accompanied by a dreamy sigh that made Kasumi gag mockingly and roll her eyes.
"I get along well enough that I at least know that for sure," she guaranteed the girls. "So I don't get the appeal."
Across the room, Harumi was watching from her own seat at an empty desk, one hand covering her mouth to keep from giggling. Kasumi was always guaranteed to rile up whoever she talked to. Harumi, luckily, had never been one of her targets, but she enjoyed watching the fallout as much as anyone else. Looking around, she could see several guys ducking their heads and trying not to laugh as Kasumi bravely faced down the herd of fangirls. Kiba was outright laughing and pointing at the scene.
"Is this seat taken?"
Harumi looked up and her eyes widened. "Uh… no?"
The speaker slid into the spot next to her and said no more, staring straight ahead with both arms draped along the edge of the desk casually and his back ramrod straight. Harumi blinked in surprise as a pair of slate-grey eyes slanted to the side and looked at her. She hastily directed her eyes to the desk in front of her.
"You're Harumi Oshiro, correct?" Toshiro Fukui asked. Harumi looked back up at him, surprised.
"Oh, uh yeah. You know who I am?" she asked. She hadn't expected that. He'd never said more than two words to her before.
Toshiro just nodded and turned to face the front of the classroom again, blankly.
Harumi sent him one last glance and focused on the verbal battle going on towards the front of the class again, just in time to hear Kasumi say, "I can feel that glare you're giving me, Mister Heartthrob, so don't think you're getting away with anything."
Harumi let out a little laugh at that. Sasuke was actually giving Kasumi quite the glare. Harumi flushed though when Kasumi rotated her head towards her, ignoring the next barrage from the fangirls, and tossed her a wink. Apparently she'd heard. Harumi's eyes flicked up to Toshiro and then back to the desk.
She knew Toshiro had a lot of nicknames. She'd heard Kasumi use no less than a dozen, including, but not limited to, Stick in the Mud, Iceberg, the Great Emotionless One, and Frigid Fukui. Guys in their class usually referred to him as Discount Sasuke, or a Poor Girl's Sasuke. The girls called him Hottie and Cute.
Like Sasuke, Toshiro looked either bored, annoyed, or cold most of the time. He didn't talk much, but he was at least a little more polite than Sasuke. For example, instead of ignoring his fangirls – and yes, he had them – he usually just dismissed them politely instead of sending them fleeing in tears with a biting comment or just flat-out ignoring them.
They even looked similar. Toshiro wasn't as pale and his hair and eyes were silvery instead of black, but they both were undoubtedly pretty men, with fine features and an austere sort of beauty to them. The Fukui's weren't as well known of or as well respected as the Uchiha had been, but they were a bigger clan. They had a whopping two whole members instead of just one.
"Kasumi is certainly good at riling them up," Toshiro observed, and Harumi hastily looked away from him. It was stressful sitting next to the number two heartthrob of the class. She felt like she should be fangirling as hard as the girls Kasumi was going after, but she just… wasn't.
Toshiro turned to look at her. His eyebrows went up slightly and he looked down his nose at her. "Do I have something on my face?" he asked pointedly, and Harumi winced, realizing she'd been caught staring.
There was a loud 'oooh!' from the side of the class Kasumi was on and they both looked over to see Naruto, crouched on the desk in front of Sasuke and leaned forwards so that his mouth was pressed directly onto…
"Ahahahahaha!" Kasumi was cackling wildly, doubled over and clutching her stomach. "Oh, I can't beat that! I'm tapping out, Highlighter Head, have fun with the fangirls!"
With that she scuttled away to the other side of the room and took a seat one from the back, behind them. She leaned back in her seat and propped her bare feet up on the desk shamelessly, leaning her head back into her folded hands. Toshiro tossed a disgusted glance over his shoulder, lips curling in distaste. Kasumi responded by sticking her tongue out.
Iruka entered then, dissipating the crowd back to empty seats, many of them grumbling all the way, and possibly saving Naruto's life in the process.
"As of today, you are all genin," Iruka began. "You've all gone through trials and hardships, but that's nothing. What comes next is much more difficult. Now you're only genin, first-level ninjas. You'll be grouped into three-man genin squads led by a jonin, an elite ninja. Each squad is set up with a balance of strength and ability. The squads are as follows…"
A few teams were read out, to groans and squeals and friends and enemies were paired together. "Squad Seven: Naruto Uzumaki. Sakura Haruno-"
Naruto smiled, Sakura groaned.
"-and Sasuke Uchicha."
Sakura smiled, Naruto groaned.
"Squad Eight: Hinata Hyuuga. Kiba Inuzuka. Shino Aburame."
"Why do I have to be in a group with a slump like Sasuke?" Naruto protested loudly, shooting up when all the squads were assigned.
"Sasuke had the best scores in the graduating class," Iruka explained. "Naruto, you had the worst."
"Just make sure you don't get in my way," Sasuke muttered. "Loser."
Something whizzed over their heads and Sasuke suddenly lunged forwards in his chair, hand flying to the back of his head. A pebble clattered onto his desk. He glared at it and picked it up, observing it. He looked around the class, glaring at any one who dared to make eye contact with him.
Harumi looked over her shoulder and saw that Kasumi was leaning forwards on her desk with her face buried in her arms. For all intents and purposes she looked like she was grabbing a quick nap, but for the slight shaking of her shoulders. Harumi guessed Sasuke had noticed too, going by the intense glare he was giving her.
Harumi wasn't altogether surprised. Kasumi had spent time with Naruto and pulled pranks with him in the past. She was part of a group that was at the bottom of the class less for lack of talent and more for lack of caring. Shikamaru Nara was too lazy to be bothered with grades, Kiba Inuzuka was too interested in causing trouble to study much, just like Kasumi, and Naruto… okay, so he wasn't exactly talented, but he definitely made up for it with determination.
"Team 9: Harumi Oshiro-"
Harumi perked up, eyes locking on Iruka and waiting for either the clouds to open up of the hammer to fall.
"-Toshiro Fukui-"
Harumi glanced to the side and found Toshiro was also looking at her out of the corner of his eyes. He gave her a polite, close-eyed nod of acknowledgement and turned to wait for the third name.
"- and Kasumi."
Kasumi heaved herself over the top of her desk and dropped down into the empty seat next to Harumi, falling into place and tossing her a grin. The girl jerked and she saw Toshiro roll his eyes on her other side.
"So, I'm with Toshiro and Oshiro," she greeted them. "Yeah, I can definitely work with that." Already her mind was coming up with potential jokes.
"So long as you pull your weight, I have no objections to being on a team with you," Toshiro said sternly.
Kasumi put her hands up mockingly. "Consider my weight pulled, Stick in the Mud."
Harumi leaned forwards slightly, inserting himself between them when Toshiro narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to respond. "Guys, please!" she protested. "We're on a team now, let's try not to fight! Let's eat lunch together," she suggested. "We can get to know each other."
Toshiro nodded slowly. "That sounds reasonable."
Together they stood up from the desk and gathered their lunches.
"How about the roof?" Harumi suggested. Kasumi shook her head violently.
"No way, I don't like being any farther above ground level than I have to be."
"We will eat outside," Toshiro said decisively, heading for the door.
"Yes, we will," Kasumi agreed, running to walk next to him. She put a hand on her chest and continued in a snooty voice, "We shall sit outside and feast upon wine and caviar, hon hon hon," she mocked.
Harumi face-palmed as Toshiro sent Kasumi a dark look. "Kasumi, please?" she begged. Kasumi laughed.
"He makes it too easy!" she defended herself.
They made it outside with no more teasing from Kasumi and seated themselves on the ground under the shade of a tree, spreading out their lunches.
"Ah," Kasumi said as she buried her bare toes into the grass, reveling in the feeling of cool earth under her feet. "That's just what the doctor ordered," she grinned, leaning back against a root and folding her hands behind her head.
"Are you not eating?" Harumi asked her in concern, noticing that Kasumi hadn't brought a bento out with her.
Kasumi shrugged. "Not hungry."
"Oh. Okay," Harumi submitted, and then glanced over at Toshiro. He was seated cross-legged with a bento in his lap. It contained exactly two things. Plain rice and steamed vegetables. Toshiro cleared his throat and Harumi looked up at him, blushing as she realized she'd been caught staring.
"Something wrong?" Toshiro asked with obviously forced politeness.
"Nothing," she said hastily, but then she felt bad, and lifted her own bento in offering. "Just wondered if you wanted some of my tempura? My sister packed too much."
Toshiro looked at her skeptically, as if he were waiting for her to yank her lunch back and laugh at him for actually buying it. When she didn't, he picked up his chopsticks and plucked a few pieces from Harumi's lunch and placed them in his own.
"Hey, can I have one?" Kasumi requested. Harumi looked at her, surprised.
"I thought you weren't-"
"Changed my mind," Kasumi shrugged. "Smells good."
"Okay, um…" Harumi plucked up a piece on her chopsticks and held it out towards Kasumi, not quite sure what to do. "It's, uh, sort of…"
"Got it," Kasumi assured her, reached out and snatching the tempura from Harumi's chopsticks deftly between two fingers. She bit off a crunchy bite and grinned. "That's really good!"
"My sister, Hotaru, likes to cook," Harumi explained.
"My compliments," Toshiro agreed, although he was staring intently at Kasumi. "How did you do that?"
"Do what?" Kasumi asked blankly, taking another bite.
"You knew where it was," Toshiro pointed out, gesturing with his chopsticks, "but you can't see."
"Oh that," Kasumi said, waving her hand absently. "My kekkei genkai."
Harumi choked slightly and Toshiro leaned forwards in interest. Neither of them had realized Kasumi had a kekkei genkai, which wasn't terribly surprising. Kasumi never really had cause to use it at the Academy. At least, not in a way most people could see and identify.
"You have a kekkei genkai?" Toshiro asked with enough disbelief in his voice to make Kasumi scowl at him.
"As a matter of fact I do, Stick in the Mud," she said sharply, sitting up straight. "Mage Chikyu. I can manipulate earth beyond the normal jutsu. It also comes with a seismic sense. I can sense movement on earth, like people moving, their heart beats, their muscles contracting, their weight shifting. I know where you are, where Harumi is… I know about those ants six feet to your right that you didn't even notice."
Toshiro leaned to his right, combing the ground, and sure enough, there was a line of ants moving through the grass towards an ant hill. He looked from them to Kasumi, impressed despite himself. She nodded at him and grinned.
"Yeah, take that, Stick in the Mud," she retorted, and then scowled. "Ya know, that's kind of a mouthful. I'm just gonna call you Stick, I think."
Toshiro called. "Or, far be it from me to suggest that you use me actual name."
"Nah, that's no fun," Kasumi said, shaking her head. She turned to face Harumi, who shifted uncomfortably under her blank stare. "You Oshiros are supposed to have bright red hair, right?"
Harumi nodded, reaching up to touch her lurid red hair self-consciously. "Yes…"
Kasumi sighed in satisfaction and leaned back into her hands again. "Alright. Stick and Red, that's what I'm gonna call you guys."
Harumi didn't mind her nickname – it was hardly the first time she'd been called Red – but Toshiro didn't seem pleased.
"And what shall we call you?" he asked with mocking pleasantness. "Bigfoot? Eyes?"
Kasumi's jaw dropped open and she gaped at Toshiro. To everyone's surprise, she burst out laughing and grinned at him approvingly. "You go, Stick! Give it right back! That was almost good!"
"Oh!" Harumi exclaimed, joining in. "How about…. Um…" she struggled. "Earth… girl?"
Kasumi winced. "Yeah, leave the nicknames to me, Red. You'll hurt yourself."
By that point lunch was over, so the three teammates gathered up their lunches and headed back into the classroom. Most people had already returned, only a few late stragglers still filtering through the door. They returned to their seat and examined the line of jonin at the front of the room, the ones who would be their teachers.
"I recognize her, that's Kurenai," Harumi said, pointing to the jonin with red eyes that matched hers.
"And that's Asuma," Toshiro said, pointing to a man next to her who was leaning back against the wall with a cigarette clutched lazily in his teeth. He wasn't the only one smoking. Next to him, a woman with lavender hair with a white streak through it was puffing contemplatively on a kiseru. She reached up to remove the pipe from her mouth, revealing a long, pointed silver nail cover on the middle and ring fingers of her right hand.
"They look scary," Harumi murmured, folding her arms across her chest and rubbing her upper arms. "I don't see myself ever making jonin if they all look like that."
"I think they all look kind of weird," Kasumi said casually, once more reclining in her seat with her feet up on the desk. Harumi looked at her in surprise.
"How can you say… oh," she deadpanned.
Kasumi chuckled and waved a hand in front of her blank eyes pointedly. "Yeah."
"If the pair of you could please act your age," Toshiro said, letting out a long breath through his nose. Harumi turned to look at Toshiro, who was scrutinizing the jonin in the front of the room with a calculating expression on his face.
"I see you," Toshiro said suddenly. Harumi whirled around just in time to catch Kasumi pulling her tongue back into her mouth and unscrunching her face.
"Good for you, Stick," she approved. "Way to be average."
"Alright everybody, settle down," Iruka called. "I think we're all back now, so I'm going to be turning you over to your jonin instructors. You're to leave with them when they call your team number. Everybody clear?" The students around the room nodded or responded with yeses, and Iruka gestured to the line of jonin. "Alright then, they're all yours."
Team 9 sat at their desk, watching with interests as the different jonin stepped up to claim their students. Kurenai stepped up to take her students and they leaned forwards with interest. They were next.
The purple-haired woman stepped forwards, blowing a bit of smoke out of her mouth tiredly. Iruka waved his hand in front of his face and coughed pointedly.
"Asuka, you're not supposed to smoke in the Academy," he pointed out.
"I'm also not supposed to be teaching," Asuka shrugged, and gestured to the room at large. "And yet…" She sighed. "Where's Team 9? Stand up."
The three genin stood up and stared at their new teacher, not particularly impressed.
She didn't look like much. Her lavender hair was swept back from her face, a very thick white streak slicing through it all the way down. She wore the regulation shoes and headband coupled with purple leggings and a heavy-looking tan belt made up of different pouches. Her hands were covered in white fingerless gloves and, when she reluctantly put her pipe away, she tugged a white mask over the lower half of her face. Her light lavender shirt had a mandarin collar and a row of snaps up the side, much like Kasumi's.
"You're no dream either, lady," Kasumi called down to the front of the room, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning on one leg.
"Kasumi!" Harumi hissed, not sure whether she was horrified or impressed.
Asuka observed Kasumi blandly, not seeming overly-concerned with the insult. "I don't have the time or patience to fight with a child. If you want to learn, come with me. If you don't, turn in your hitai-ate and don't waste everyone's time."
Toshiro looked faintly amused as Kasumi's jaw loosened and her brows lowered. She looked at Asuka with irritation and – maybe a little respect?
They descended from their desk and clustered around Asuka, who gestured wordlessly for them to follow her as Asuma stepped up to take Team 10.
"Where are we going?" Harumi asked curiously, taking quick steps to keep up with the instructor.
"We're required to spend time getting to know each other," Asuka deadpanned, pushing open a door and stalking through. Toshiro caught it once she was through and held it for Kasumi and Harumi, the latter of whom muttered a quick thanks. Toshiro nodded in acknowledgement and followed the rest of his team out onto the balcony.
"Take a seat," Asuka ordered, nodding to a bench situated by the rail that surrounded the balcony. She herself perched on the rail, crossing her legs with her toes dangling just above the ground. She plucked her pipe from inside her shirt and began packing a little wad of tobacco into it as the three genin situated themselves on the bench.
Again Toshiro stood aside and let Harumi and Kasumi seat themselves first. Both girls were quickly realizing how gentlemanly their teammate was. Harumi settled herself in the middle of the bench – already half-anticipating running interference between Kasumi and Toshiro. Kasumi seated herself on the back of the bench to Kasumi's right, her feet resting on the seat. Toshiro sat to the left, his shoulders stiff and his back straight as he trained his eyes on Asuka.
"Names…" Asuka said around the stem of the pipe in her mouth as she took a few puffs. "Then your strengths and weaknesses. You on the end, the one who looks like he's sitting on pins." She gestured to Toshiro absently. "Start us off."
Toshiro opened his mouth and began. "Toshiro Fukui. My strength is long-range weapons, mostly senbon. I'm also good at wind-based jutsu. My weakness is taijutsu and close-quarters combat."
"Not surprising," Asuka muttered to herself, nodding slowly. "If a Fukui's gotta fight up close something's gone wrong. I'm gonna have some fun teaching you some poisons for those senbon of yours, boy. Next."
Harumi cleared her throat, flushing slightly as Asuka pinned her with deep emerald eyes. "My name is Harumi Oshiro. My strength… I think I'm probably best at medical ninjutsu and herbs, but I'm also good with a tessen." Harumi reached into her shirt where she carried her tessen and produced it, flicking it open with an audible shick as the metal spokes glided past each other. She closed the fan and replaced it in her shirt. "My weaknesses… I'm not very good at genjutsu, and I don't have a lot of stamina."
"Medicine and herbs," Asuka mused. "I'll be teaching you a few poisons as well. Really, I'll be teaching all of you about poisons, but I'll put some focus on it since you're familiar with the basics. As for genjutsu… that's fine, I can work with that. You, the one who can't sit like a civilized human being."
Kasumi scoffed and introduced herself. "I'm Kasumi."
Asuka raised an eyebrow. "And your last name?"
"Don't have one," Kasumi shrugged, leaning back leisurely on the bench. "My strengths… I've got my kekkei genkai that lets me control earth, and I'm totally immune to genjutsu. My weaknesses…" Kasumi smirked and waved a hand in front of her face pointedly. "Take a wild guess."
Asuka squinted at her. "Right, you're the blind one. And the one with the attitude." She sighed. "I guess the Hokage wanted to start me off with a challenge."
Toshiro's stare intensified as he latched onto her words. "Start you off? If this your first time teaching?"
Kasumi leaned forwards interestedly, a wide grin forming on her mouth at the idea of having a brand new teacher to mess with, but Asuka shook her head. Kasumi slumped in disappointment.
"I've taught several teams before," she explained. Toshiro's eyes narrowed.
"But you said-"
"Yes, I did," Asuka nodded. "And now for our first lesson: no questions about my personal life. I won't ask about yours, and I won't answer if you ask about mine. I'm not here to be your friend, and I'm not here to hold your hand and skip through the flowers. I'm here to keep you from getting your pathetic selves killed on your first mission. Got that?"