Chapter 19: Career Choices and a Plan
Iaf laughed as she listened to Temari's ramble on about her house life "I mean come on, I have to share my house with my two brothers and one of them is a pig-"
"Kankuro?" Tenten asked, Temari nodded "I'm always cleaning up after him, Iaf what it like living alone?" she asked, Iaf blinked "oh I don't live alone I live with my best friend, her name is Shadow" she told them, everyone stared at her "what?" she asked "you never mentioned a best friend, so tell us… who is this Shadow?" Tenten asked as they leaned in, eager to her about the girl from lunch "well Shadow was an orphan I met when I was young, I felt sad for her 'cause she didn't have a family like I did so I went over and talked to her, she was really sweet and kind so after a while I begged dad to take her in, he agreed and we took her home" only to make her my maid "and we have lived together since. To be honest I never really got out of the house much so Shadow is my closest and only friend from home" Iaf explained, there was a silence "oh poor Iaf-chan" a voice cried from behind her, Iaf jumped a few feet into the air and turned around to see Tobi, the orange-haired Akatsuki member that she thinks is the one called Pein and also Kakuzu "T-Tobi please n-never do that again" she said holding a hand over her heart "but Iaf-chan only has one friend at home" Tobi complained, Iaf laughed "I did but now I have four-" a pained look came over Iaf's face "I-I mean three" she said with a fake smile, no one said anything "there is also two other orphans that we brought home a couple of years after Shadow, they were two boys named Sorrow and Nat" Temari, Tenten and Choji flinched at the name of the two boys they had seen, Iaf didn't notice "they aren't here though because they are at home working for my mum's… business, so I doubt you'll meet them" oh we doubt that the others thought "so Iaf-chan, what would you like to be when your older?" Tobi asked, Iaf blinked in surprise "oh uh… I don't know I-I never gave it any thought" she told him "you're an awesome cook" Choji commented "she is?" Temari asked "yes she made these awesome things called hamburgers in cooking" he told them "they were amazing"
"So maybe a cook?" Tenten suggested "I don't know, I mean I like cooking but I can't see myself doing it all the time" Iaf replied "well just give it a little thought, think of something you really like and see if there is a job that is with that" Temari explained "and Tobi will be here if Iaf-chan needs him" Tobi told her as he walked over to one of the desks with Kakuzu "we'll be over here if you need us Iaf-chan" Tenten commented pointing to a corner where Choji was already sitting on the floor "okay thanks" she replied and half turned to see the orange haired boy standing next to her still "is there something you need?" she asked.
The boy nodded "my name is Pein, I'm the leader of the Akatsuki. I just wanted you to know that until I can trust you, I'll be keeping an eye on you" he told her, Iaf smiled "I understand, as long as I don't feel like I'm being stalked I'm fine with that. So it was nice to meet you Pein" she replied then walked over to the teacher who had just walked in "ahh, you must be my new student" the man said. Iaf nodded this guy sends chills down my spine she thought "my name is Iaf Aros sir" she introduced herself.
"I'm Orochimaru, now do you have a job you would like to do?" Orochimaru asked, Iaf thought for a moment then nodded "yes I do sir" she told him "then you will need to go to the library and check out a few books for research on that subject" Orochimaru explained "and when you get back, I'll have a sheet of questions you can fill out"
"Alright" Iaf left and walked down the hallway "now where's the library?" she asked herself as she pulled her map out of her pocket "now if I exit the door at the end of the hall here, it should be across the courtyard" she said to herself and walked towards the door.
Once she opened it she spotted a brown bricked building that had a small plaque on it that said 'Library' "I guess that's the place" she mumbled and put the map away.
As she entered the library she noticed there was a class in there, so she quietly slipped through the front door "can I help you?" she turned to see a black haired man sitting behind a deck near the door "hi I just started my Career study class and I needed some books on my job choice" she explained "oh so you're the new student, well I'm Izumo and around here somewhere is Kotetsu. We both look after this place and will help you with any of your booking needs" Izumo told her, Iaf smiled "thank you, where can I find the non-fiction section?" she asked, Izumo pointed over to the other side of the library "just over there, there are little nametags that will tell you where the different subsections are" he informed her "thank you, ah do I walk around this class?" Iaf wondered, Izumo shook his head "nah the class is only on free reading time so walk right through" he told her, Iaf nodded and gave a smile "thank you for your help" she said and began to walk through the class "Iaf-chan?" Iaf looked to her left and saw that the table she was passing had Hinata, Sakura and Shikamaru sitting at it "oh hi guys" she greeted them "why are you here?" Sakura asked "I need to find books for my career choice" Iaf explained "what did you choose?" Shikamaru asked "a vet" Iaf answered "wh-why did y-you choose that?" Hinata wondered, Iaf smiled and sat down "well… I really love animals, cats are my favourite, and I really hate it when their injured, it makes me feel sad for them and I want to be able to do whatever I can for them" Iaf explained "that's understandable" Shikamaru replied "it's a great choice" Sakura added, Hinata nodded "thanks, now I need to get by books, so I'll see you later" Iaf said then moved away from the three as she moved to the bookshelves that held the non-fiction books, flicking through the books she found a couple that held information about animals but found nothing good until she came across a book that was really thick "wow that's a big book, 'everything you need to know about animals and more' well with the size of this book it should be helpful" she said then grabbed it with both hands and pulled it out, swaying a bit under the weight Iaf steadied herself then started walking back to the front desk "I-Iaf?"
Moving the book so she could see, she looked to see Tenten standing in front of her "Tenten? Why are you here?" Iaf asked as they walked to the desk "I was sent to see what was keeping you" Tenten replied, Iaf frowned "what do you mean? I haven't been that long" she commented, Tenten shook her head "you've been here for over ten minutes" she replied, Iaf blinked in surprise "r-really? I must have lost track of rime while looking for a good book" she muttered to herself "Iaf? Are you really going to read that book" Tenten asked looking at the book that was almost 20cm wide, Iaf looked at the book then at Tenten and nodded "shouldn't take any more than a week" Iaf told her as she placed the book on the front desk not noticing the surprised looks on Kotetsu and Izumo's faces.
After checking the book out Iaf and Tenten walked back to class "so you like animals?" Tenten asked seeing the title on the book Iaf was holding, Iaf nodded with a smile "I love them, though some not so much" she told her with a small laugh. Tenten smiled "so you going to aim to do this job?" she asked, Iaf looked at the sky with a small frown "I really hope I can" she said turning her gaze to Tenten "I really want to help animals, so I'm going to work my hardest to become a great vet!" she added with a big grin, Tenten nodded also grinning "then we'll help"
(Behind some bushes near the girls)
"What was that? The girl wants to be a vet?" Sorrow wondered, Nat nodded "that's what it sounded like to me" he replied "but she can't, she's the heir to the title of 'Dame of Shirani' she won't have time for anything else" Sorrow commented, Nat gave him a sad look "but that doesn't mean she can't try… Sorrow you know what it was like to have no future- and before you say anything, having your life planned out for you is no future… so can't we try and help her out, she is our friend" Nat explained, Sorrow had a pained look on his face "I guess I understand, we'll try and talk to Dame Afina to get her to agree to Iaf coming to this school, I won't say that she's already attending it but… I think I have an idea" Sorrow waited until the girls had gone into the building then stood up and walked off "a-ah Sorrow! W-We're supposed to b-be watching Iaf-san" Nat stuttered nervously, Sorrow gave him a half-smile "she'll be fine, she has lots of friends and if we want to help her, we'll have to complete my plan by the time she gets home" he explained, Nat gave a nervous frown but nodded and followed Sorrow back to the house.
(In the Drama room)
After being frightened by the teacher when she returned, Iaf sat down next to Tenten and opened the book she got "Iaf-chan, are you really going to read that?" Choji asked looking at the size of the book, Iaf nodded "I know it seems big but at least it will give me something to do at home as well" Iaf explained "Iaf-san?" Iaf looked behind her to see Orochimaru "yes Orochimaru-sensei?" Iaf wondered, Orochimaru held out a sheet, Iaf blinked at it and took it "uh… thank you?" she looked at the sheet to see it had instructions and questions "that sheet is your assignment, it basically asks that after a couple of weeks you will give a small presentation on what you've learned" Orochimaru explained, Iaf nodded with a smile "oh okay, thank you for explaining that for me" she said, Orochimaru nodded then walked over to two students who Iaf have seen in the Sound group but dismissed it as normal teaching stuff.
After the bell went Iaf gathered her book along with her workbook "this book is too heavy when I carry it with my workbooks so I'm going to drop it off in my locker before my next class" Iaf informed the others "oh Iaf-chan, what do you have now?" Iaf turned to see Tobi coming towards her with Pein and Kakuzu behind him "oh um… IT, it some computer class I think" Iaf told him "aww, Tobi's not with you then" Tobi complain, Iaf laughed "it's okay, we still have tomorrow but I have to cut this short. Sorry, it's just I want to run this to my locker before I go to class and I don't want to be late so I'll see you later" she explained, Tobi nodded "oh okay, Tobi's sorry for keeping then" he said tilting his head to the side, Iaf gave a small laugh "no it's fine" she said before leaving, when she got back to her locker Iaf put the book away along with her workbook and gave a big stretch before she grabbed a fresh workbook and closed her locker before looking at her map "it looks like the classroom is only a few hallways away" she said happily and walked off towards the classroom only to hear the second bell go "oh no, does that mean I'm late?" she wondered and picked up her pace.
When she arrived at the classroom nobody was outside, mentally cursing herself Iaf knocked on the door "come in" opening the door she saw the classroom was full of computers which the students were sitting at "ah you're the new girl right?" Iaf turned her head to see a man standing against the wall holding a book in his hands "uh yes, I'm Iaf Aros, sorry I was late I ha-"
"I know, now quickly sit down so I can continue" the man told her, Iaf blinked surprised but nodded and sat down next to Neji who was looking at her with a smirk "you shouldn't make being late a habit" he said, Iaf blushed "but I didn't mean to, I just had to put my books away" she explained, he nodded "I know" he said, Iaf gave him a frown "how does everyone seem to know why I was late?" she asked, Neji shrugged "maybe we can read your mind" he said smirking, Iaf blinked surprised "stop teasing the girl" Iaf looked past Neji to see Shikamaru with his head on the desk "hello Shikamaru" Iaf greeted with a smile. The boy waved "so how did you know what I was doing?" Iaf asked "the Akatsuki member, he told Asuma-sensei what you were doing when he call out your name on the roll" Shikamaru explained "Akatsuki member?" Iaf wondered, Shikamaru lifted his head and pointed to the other side of the room, Iaf followed his finger to see he was pointing to Kakuzu who was talking with Konan "oh… he must have over heard me when I told Tobi what I was doing" she said to herself "alright class, today we'll just do a simple newspaper assignment" Asuma told them, everyone started up their computers "newspaper assignment?" Iaf questioned "on the computer the teachers each have a file that the students can go in for work, in Asuma-sensei's file there's a file that has a word doc that we use for our single period" Neji explained as Iaf's screen came on, getting into the file Iaf opened up the word document "now what?" she asked "now you go onto the internet and find a news article, any type, and fill in the details on the sheet" Neji told her, Iaf nodded "thank you, Neji" she said with a smile then began her work.
(At the house)
"Yes my lady, I understand, we'll protect Iaf 'til the end" Sorrow said with a bow "I trust you'll do that Sorrow, I don't know why I'm saying yes but don't make me regret it you two" Afina replied "yes ma'am" Sorrow and Nat said in unison "now how's my daughter?" Afina asked "oh, the dutchess is asleep with a cold my lady, she accidentally left her bedroom window open last night, I'm sorry I didn't notice" Shadow apologized with a curtsy, Afina laughed "no it's fine, knowing that girl she wouldn't have let you see it" she told the girl "well I better go you three have a good day" she added before her image disappeared.
"This should make the both of them happy" Nat said with a smile, Shadow nodded her own smile widening "great but now we have to look after her twenty-four seven" Sorrow huffed, Nat grinned "if you have a problem with that why did you suggest the idea?" he asked, Sorrow lightly blushed and walked out of the room leaving the question unanswered.
A/N: Sorry ppl bad news. I finished year 12 this year and I had to give my laptop back to the school so next year I'll be laptopless and not be able to update regularly. I apologize and will try to update best I can.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and co. just the girls and Shadow Demons… and Momo.