"i'd never felt anything like it. It was tension; no matter where you looked, you couldn't escape it. Just building pressure and bloodlust, knowing that if you made just one wrong move, it was game over."
She recalled the intense concentration in his tone when he had told her that, when he had explained the nature of the mission that they had gone on. She was sure Tatsuo had told them both that C-ranked missions weren't dangerous, but she supposed that the unknown variable left to chance was always a factor. Nothing was certain in the shinobi world.
He lifted the bottom of his shirt, and though she recoiled away immediately, blocking her sight and complaining about him going and doing that in front of her, he dispelled her childish huffs to draw attention to his reasons. Puncture wounds, ones that seemed to be in the process of healing, but in the fleshier bits around the abdomen, they had a harder time mending. They looked like old bee sting marks, or acupuncture pricks, all reaching around the various vantages of his sides and up towards his chest. She couldn't help but cringe, gripping her own gut just at the thought of feeling something like that.
"All over," he clarified, doing little to ease her secondhand discomfort, "If I'm being honest, I don't even know how I survived it." Eri could have sworn that the way he spoke carried a little too much excitement, as if he were bragging about this life-altering, life-endangering adventure he'd had.
Lo and behold, that's what it eased into, "but I did get something out of it."
Eri peered up to the dawn sky, walking up through the early streets of Konoha. There were very few people out and about, maybe one of the older folks here and there, but it was more common for them to be around; they were early risers and all. Some people carried supplies, or readied themselves to open their shops for the day.
This early morning peace felt like the late night peace she preferred - the quiet sounds of ambiance and the chance to just see the beautiful place for what it was.
Still, this morning it was a little harder to admire it. Her brain was so unfocused and scattered that she couldn't think straight. Even the crisp morning air that carried the fresh scents of dew and blossoms that she loved so much was lost on her. The chunin exams. She was supposed to be meeting up with her team so that they could go register together, and yet her excitement was thrushed by the churning invasion of anxiety in her stomach.
She had wanted to know about his mission, that was for sure. She always liked to hear about the stuff he was up to, when in these times now, they weren't together 24/7. It was just that... his close encounter with death had done little to steel her confidence for the exams.
"It's called the Sharingan."
"Mmmm..." She hummed, shaking the wayward thoughts from her head. She clenched her fists, knocking them together in front of her and summoning a deep, steadying breath. "I'm okay," she quietly attempted to motivate herself, dragging her fingers from her core, up through the center of her chest to guide her breaths in a rhythm that felt the most soothing, "we're okay."
She took a hop forward now trying to welcome the morning with her calming mind, "eeeeeeverything is A-okay." She had stopped by the shrine that morning before leaving her compound, and she had prayed to reaffirm her fortune.
So today had a great chance of being nothing short of success.
"Today is going to be a great day!" She adjusted her utility strap on waist, making sure it was nice and secure before bolting full-speed ahead for her meeting place.
She was on the go early, as she had surmised that the influx of people that had come to the village for the chunin exams would likely cause quite the spot of traffic. She wanted to be able to register as early as possible and be done with it so there would be less time to second guess. Not only that, but also so that if one of them made an error -as they often did, mainly herself-, there would be time to fix it without abruptly being made late.
The others probably wouldn't be around for a little longer though, being she was early even by early's standard, so she scoot over to a rock off from the street, plopping down to take a seat. Well, until she found herself too anxious and stood back up instead... then paced around a few times: sat down again, stood up again, and repeated the cycle. "Where are they...?"
"Eri?" Tatsuo peered around the corner, a somewhat surprised look on his face.
"Yeah! Tatsuo! There you are!" She scampered up from her place, running around the fencing to find that Momo was with him. The cat girl spread her arms out, then flapped them down by her side, bounding up to her toes and tipping her head, "And Momo too! What took you guys so long?"
"We were actually going to ask... the same thing," Tatsuo's expression grew skeptical now, his head fully craning and his arms folding with the face of observation, "you're usually early."
"I was early. I was waiting over there on that rock for like a solid half hour!"
"Wrong meeting spot, you idiot..." Momo dragged.
In the lingering silence, she eased up to the small strip of fencing that blocked the squared in spot that she had been waiting, then poked around to look at the near identical-one on the other side where her teammates sat.
SERIOUSLY?! She would admit that it's her mistake, but was it really okay for the Leaf Village to make such a set up for blatant error!? Who designed this place!?
"..." Eri vigorously brushed her palms against her cheeks, "Sorry..! Sorry!" it still happened from time to time, or rather, way more often than 'time to time', even without a very obvious building flaw. She got lost on a regular basis, so often in fact that sometimes Tatsuo opted to leash her when going on missions that took them far from their usual hangout spots. So this? This was no surprise. It was just a good thing that they had accounted for the possibility of mishaps in their timing.
Luckily, they were still so early that the trip through the academy was barren and free of most obstructions and roadblocks. There was hardly anyone there safe for a couple of genin and a chunin or two lingering in the halls. That being said, it should have been a tell-tale sign that they didn't need to rush, but with one directionally-challenged fool, one worry wort, and one rightfully cautious caretaker, they all knew they would feel much more comfortable when all they had to do was sit in a waiting room and exist for a couple of hours.
"Okay, are we ready?" Eri cautioned, turning to face her team before they proceeded towards the door for registration. She raised her application form carefully in her hand, motioning back and looking over the two, "Everybody have their forms?"
"Right here, mom," Momo sarcastically remarked, lifting hers up and waving it between her fingers.
"I'm prepared too," Tatsuo likewise flashed his own from his weapons pouch as well as a bright smile of readiness.
"Okay, good..." She hummed thoughtfully, checking through her own pouch with care. "And everybody's all stocked up and ready for everything, right?" She filed her fingers over the kunai in her leg holster, then to her weapon pouch where she flicked through a couple of colorful coins. They looked a lot like money, only each one seemed to be a touch larger, also color-coded and trimmed with gold detailing.
Momo peeked into her pockets, and through the different straps located either ends of her body. There, her finger would catch the end of very thin bag-like and bottle-like accessories, the bags even having a thin composition comparable to that of a tea bag. "All set."
And. Well. Tatsuo was easy. As long as he had a kunai holster on his leg and that sickle on his back, he would likely be just fine.
"Is there anything else we need to check? Anything else we need to be sure of?" Eri peered all around, checking from her bag to her clothes to her gloves for quite literally anything that could have been out of place, but their male teammate simply ruffled the top of her hair.
"Relax yourself. We're fine," he really had a knack for having such a calming demeanor. At moments like this, he seemed so on top of everything that it could give the others a little relaxation as well.
Eri took another deep breath at his gentle urging, and coiling her hands in towards her chest again, she nodded firmly. "Okay... Alright... Let's go."
Keeping close to one another, and matching pace, the three approached the door at the end of the hall.
"Is that..." Momo trailed, "Kou-sensei?"
They shifted to see into the distance, moving just a bit more quickly to close the gap, and just as suspected, they were greeted with the familiar face of their teacher. He was standing idly by, seeming to do little more than occupy himself by peering out of the large academy window nearby, but hearing the sound of his little genin approaching, a subtle, somewhat motherly smile came to his lips as he moved to greet them.
"Kou-sensei..." Eri addressed, attempting to be respectful, but being unable to fight the tipping of her head. "You weren't... worried about us, were you?"
It was a strange thought, to say the least, but for an even stranger phenomenon. Typically, Kousuke -shortened to Kou-sensei by his students-, was a man that took pride in enforcing their independence. While he, of course, bound them together to properly operate as a team, he also put a strong sense of care into strengthening their skills as individuals, being just as certain that they could progress on their own. Because both that, and the fact that he typically opted to let them do things on their own, it seemed almost bizarre to the team that he would be showing up before the exams after giving them the option to apply.
"Me?" The pale-blue haired-male pointed his finger to himself, feigning innocence it appeared. "I wouldn't call myself worried," his tender, steel-colored eyes that softeness towards them all put the team of three at ease. It was like seeing a parent calm in the face of danger - somehow it made them all feel for certain that everything would be just fine.
"Being your sensei, I wanted to leave you with some words of encouragement." He flashed a smile, tilting his his head to further his 'innocent' guise, all the while offering the gesture of a small thumbs up. Coming all this way, they assumed it would be some empowering words of wisdom or some tips, or maybe some kind of deep, sentimental spiel about how they've grown as students and would see this exam only as a path forward and- "Don't lose~."
Dread and blandness teemed through the squad, and neither one dared to open their mouths in reply for some time.
Eri brushed her finger awkwardly against her cheek, peering to her right to see Momo's hollow, dull stare, then to her left to see Tatsuo's likewise dry, bemused face.
"I'm joking," Kou-sensei offered a little damage control, but his students were hardly impressed. "Mm... heh," he lost his hands in the pockets of his Jonin vest. "You've all worked hard, and sank a lot of hours into bettering yourselves both as individuals, and as a team." He softened his gaze once more, this time more effort put into making it all the more kind and sincere, "I have no doubt in my mind that each and every one of you will be fine."
"Sure."
"Okay."
Their responses were swift, and dry. Were they truly upset with their sensei? No, they would probably be over it in no time, but in the moment they responded flatly just to show him how unimpressed they were.
Momo, Tatsuo, and now Eri, though as the first two passed by into the examination room with their flat, quick responses, not swayed nor pleased by his attempt at cleaning up his previous joke, Eri backtracked slightly. She spared a sympathetic glance to the comically distraught teacher, clapping her hands together lightly in a praying motion and uttering a quiet, "Thank you, sensei! before hurrying in after the others."
"Now I'm more nervous than before," Momo sulked, hanging her head as an exaggerated tear began at the corner of her eye. "How could he..."
"You heard him," Eri supplemented, looking between both genin, "he has no doubt in his mind that we'll be fine."
"Why doesn't he tell us what he really thinks?" Momo drew out a pessimistic breath, the puff of air seeming to resemble a skull.
Tatsuo pressed his hands atop their heads, "Cheer up. We know how Kou-sensei is. This shouldn't be a surprise to us. I'm sure in his own way, he means well."
"Or protecting his reputation," Momo huffed once more, "you know he talks a lot of trash to the other Jonin."
"Well, he's staking his reputation on us!" Eri offered with a thumbs up, "he wouldn't do that if he didn't believe in us, right?"
"RIGHT! NO PRESSURE," Momo could feel herself growing pale from her uttered sarcasm. She would be alright in the long run; the true worry was that she would decide to poke at their teacher, and perhaps go out of her way to embarrass him in some way further down the road. The only saving grace for that not happening was that she wouldn't jeopardize her team's performance by doing something like that, no matter how the will to be petty crept up on her.
The three of them began to calm down in time, luckily without too much disadvantageous attention on them, being they were so early that there were only a few squads present. It was the perfect time to notice, however, the way that the other genin from other villages seemed to be so much... bigger, older, stronger perhaps? Most of them were full blown adults, it appeared, and that did nothing for Momo's raging nerves.
Eri, on the other hand, well she seemed somewhat excited. The idea of being the underdog in a scenario made her bristle with anticipation, "Ahhh come on, where are the others?" She was shifting her feet up and down from heel to toe, as if bouncing in place.
"We don't even know who else is participating," Tatsuo informed, "there's an easy chance that many of them were possibly not even recommended. The chunin exams can be rather exclusive."
"Right..." she drawled out, her head twisting to get a view of the room as everyone began to flood in. She was catching faces here and there, but for the most part she was trying not to stare. Not only was it rude, but it would possibly draw unnecessary attention and make their team a little too memorable for some. Depending on the nature of the exam, not blending in could be problematic. Momo was doing the same, but it seemed that was more so out of her own anxiety and unwillingness to risk eye contact with any of these monsters.
So between their own quiet conversation, and the light conversation between others, time moved under the radar, giving way to the filling of the room as it elapsed.
"Oh boy, the gang's all here," a voice spoke up, lithe in the dragging sentiment of bemusement, "great."
"I'd know that painfully apathetic drawl anywhere," Eri pressed her palms together, looking towards the direction from whence it came, "Shikamaru! Choji!"
"I'm surprised you even made it out of bed," Momo dryly chuckled to herself, but seeing as Shikamaru was completely unbothered, it was probably more truth than it was joke.
Turning for Eri to continue to greet the squad, her lips parted to make mention of their blonde teammate, but by the way the cat girl's eyes widened ever-so-slightly, it appeared she had almost forgotten about her.
It led to the most awkward of pauses, between her pausing and Ino returning her stare for a moment expectantly, and Momo not seeing the need to speak up either, as her brow quirked almost instantaneously with a challenging expression to the girl.
"Ah yes, Team Ten, I think it is," Tatsuo spoke up to shatter the tension, offering that unbothered smile of his through the quiet. He directed his lime hues over, "And Team Eight as well."
"OH! Team Eight!" Eri piped up, aiding in officially shifting the attention elsewhere, and mentally thanking Tatsuo for his quick-thinking as a neutral party, "KIBAAAAAAA!" She practically flung herself at the male, and though he opened his arms to accept, she took this opportunity to swipe the puppy off his head, giving Akamaru all of the love and affection he so rightfully deserved, whilst Momo clung so shamelessly to the arm of her good friend Shino. And of course, nether of them would dare neglect Hinata.
"Are you excited?" Eri posed the question to the shy heiress, triggering Hinata's hesitance to reply.
"Um... well... I think that...," it appeared from the pink swelling in the timid girl's cheeks that she may have had some sort of ulterior motive for signing up this way, beyond just the exam itself, but seeing she was struggling to get out her thoughts, Eri let her off a little.
"Awww, Hinaaa, don't be so nervous. You're super capable."
"Do... do you really mean that?"
"Totally! Even if we're competing on opposite sides, I'll still be rooting for you!" Eri raised Akamaru's paws to support her point, glee flooding her as Hinata looked away so bashfully. Kiba, of course, interjected himself before long, swiping his dog back, "don't worry, I gotcha, buddy."
"You say that like he was actually in danger," Eri huffed, folding her arms, "you're just jealous."
The Inuzuka's eyes widened to the size of saucers - the audacity! "Jealous? You wish! He's my dog!"
Commotion aside, it was finally time for the last, fashionably late squad to arrive - Team Seven. Though aside from the ruckus from their actual appearance, what with Ino and Sakura clamoring over Sasuke, and Naruto making his usual noise, Eri and her lot wisely kept out of it.
Or at least, did their best to keep themselves busy talking amongst themselves and trying to ignore the awkwardness that came from two of them just breaking off from the larger group that way.
All they had to do was pretend that they were so engrossed in their own topics that they had no time to associate. Then the whole thing wouldn't suddenly turn into a problem, or anything. Sure, Eri felt somewhat guilty doing this, as that would mean she wouldn't be greeting Naruto or Sasuke the same way that she greeted the others, or at least show that she was acknowledging them. She just didn't want any spotlight or confrontation from bursting ahead to-
"So you did show up."
She bristled, and the lot of her team shifted towards the source of the comment. Ever-so-slowly, the brown haired girl shifted, peering over her shoulder and trying to keep her gaze hidden by the veil of her hair. Maybe by her luck, he wasn't talking to her and- nope. Of course of the group, her good friend Sasuke would cross the crowd to make a comment following up their whole exam conversation the other day. Despite how she normally would have just dove right into their talking, her eyes hesitantly turned to survey the others in the room.
"Y-yeah," she mustered up a light smile, "Couldn't let the team down!" Everything sounded forced, from the near-stammer in the beginning to the literal gesture of arching her arm in assurance.
His brow immediately furrowed. He could tell something was up; he always could. Still, in his skepticism, as he went to open his mouth, the group's attention was dragged elsewhere - to all the jumpstarting ruckus and Naruto being at the heart of it -of course. Fortunately, this gave Eri the time to drop the budding conversation, and for her team to just blend in to the rest of the rookies. Now if only they could keep this up until the exam started.
"Why did you do that?" Momo stepped ahead to get a good look at her teammate's face, "or... why are you acting like that?"
"Huh?" Eri turned her head, eyes widen with what appeared to be sincere confusion, "why am I acting like what? What do you mean?"
Momo's eyes narrowed. She already knew there was something at play, and she had a good hunch as to why... Still, she tended to trust Eri, even if she felt a nagging feeling that she shouldn't. If it was that bad, it would rear its head at some point, and she would have a hand in addressing it, but for now, she let it slide with only a mildly dry yield.
A/N: So many random unanswered questioooons! No, but, I can't even lie this chapter is like a really light preparatory chapter. I'm going to dip into chunin exams a weeee bit, but I'm not gonna go super in on it. They're kind of unproblematic on the grander scheme of things, but there are some nice little character bits to go over there for Eri's development.
Thanks for the support on this story! Working hard on everything else and getting some much-needed backlogging in! Thank youuuu, everybody! Hope you enjoyed!