There he was again. The man with the yellow snake eyes and long black hair. He kept coming to me in my sleep, haunting me.
"Ayami," he called tauntingly. "You belong to me, Ayami. I may not have gotten to mark you before your academy training, but you'll come to me eventually. I stole you from the Land of Lightning. If not for that storm..." he hissed.
The man circled me, observing my stance and expression as though he meant to devour me. He frightened me.
"I'll see you soon, little Ayami. Very soon..."
I woke in a cold sweat. Light streamed in my open window. The sight of my potted black Dragon Lily calmed me. I rubbed my eyes clear and read the clock next to the growing plant. Seven thirty-four, leaving me more than an hour to kill before meeting my teammates.
I had passed my courses in the academy easily, far surpassing my own expectations. The skills and discipline seemed to come naturally to me. Training on my own after class quickly became a habit. I may not have known any special jutsu yet, but I had the second best grades in my class. After graduating last Tuesday, it seemed like our team assignments were an eternity away.
I rolled out of bed and shut off the alarm that hadn't gotten the chance to ring. Stepping into a hot shower invigorated me to start the day. My lack of reaction to the heat made me wonder if I was supposed to do fire jutsu.
When I finally got out, I put on my favorite outfit; loose, knee length, black shorts with a lot of pockets, a purple t-shirt, a loose fitting mini jacket with short sleeves which was dark blue with green accents. My many jacket pockets were empty right now, but my shorts were weighed down by my tools since I didn't have the money for a pouch.
I wiped off the condensation on the mirror, staring at my midnight blue eyes framed by my lilac hair.
My hairstyle resembled one of the other new genins, Hinata. She was a shy girl, Hinata.
"Alright, Ayami. Time to make some friends."
I stopped at the fridge for an orange and a juice box. I wound up two minutes late getting to the designated meeting location, but it didn't matter because I was still the first to arrive.
After another ten minutes, a black haired, brown eyed boy that looked a bit scrawny for our age group showed up. He wore red shorts like mine, an orange t-shirt, a tool pouch, his headband on his leg, and a wrapped weapon on his back.
I took note of the weapon. Despite his modest appearance, this boy was already specializing.
"Hey," was all he said as he analyzed me in a similar fashion.
I didn't bother to respond to what couldn't even be considered a greeting.
"I'm Trigyoko. What's your name?"
"Ayami."
"Do you specialize in anything yet?"
"Does it look like I do?"
"Do you have any special abilities?"
"I don't know."
"What kind of jutsu do you use?"
"I don't know."
"How can you not know? What kind of family doesn't teach their daughter about their ancestors and expectations?"
"I'm an orphan."
"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't know.". He seemed genuinely remorseful for his comments, so I let it go.
Was this the making friends I had told myself I would do? Not even kind of, unless I did something to fix it now. "Trigyoko, right? Sorry for seeming kind of...put off. I'm nervous."
"Hey, no problem. I'm nervous too."
"Hello?" a timid voice called.
I turned, finding another boy with his head bowed meekly and taking what seemed to be reluctant steps towards us. This seemed almost funny considering that he was clearly taller than Trigyoko or I, and seemed more capable physically. He wore plain black shorts and a green t-shirt, and his headband on his forehead. He didn't seem to have any tools or weapons, but that meant nothing as a shinobi.
"Hi."
"Hey!" Trigyoko called back excitedly.
"Uh, I'm Miyugi," he introduced, finally meeting my eyes. His hair was brown, and his eyes were blue.
"Trigyoko," he said, offering his hand for a shake.
As they shook, I leaned against a tree and made myself comfortable.
"What's your name?" Miyugi directed at me.
"Ayami."
"Any special abilities?"
"I don't know."
"Jutsu type?"
"I don't know."
His brow furrowed. He clearly didn't understand and opened his mouth to speak again, but closed it quickly when a woman with long red hair in a ponytail and crimson eyes dropped from the tree I was leaning against into our little group.
"Morning kiddos. Everyone getting along down here?"
We nodded.
"Good. My name is Niyana Deshafora. I will be your new sensei, if you pass my test. Before we begin, I want you each to tell me your greatest strengths."
"What do you mean, test? I thought we already took our last test at the academy," Miyugi asked.
"I won't take on genins that can't meet expectations, and my expectations are different from the academy's. What are your strengths as you see them, Miyugi?"
"I'm best at taijutsu. My jutsu type is fire."
"And you, Trigyoko?"
"I have good chakra control, and my jutsu type is earth. I also have the Furuzukia clan's blade, Quaker, and it will allow me to use a couple clan hiden techniques as I become more proficient."
"Ayami, do you have any strengths you want to talk about?"
"My only asset I know of is my quick wit, even in combat. I don't even know my jutsu type."
"Before your test, let's see if we can't discover it together."
"Okay...?"