Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters (I wish). All OCs belong to me and some of the plot that I came up with also belong to me.
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*Kabocha POV*
"Who're….they.." I questioned looking at the brown haired boy and the blonde haired girl. I could hear my uncle chuckling at me from the ground. He was still meditating and had not moved from his position.
"Oh. These are the friends I wanted to introduce you to. This is Choji Akimichi from the Akimichi clan. Choji's dad's name is Choza and his mom's name is Chiharu. This is Ino Yamanaka from the Yamanaka clan. Her dad's name is Inoichi and her mom's name is Noriko. I'm sure you'll be meeting them soon, so I wanted to give you their names." Shikamaru said gesturing by pointing his thumb towards Choji and Ino.
"I am Kabocha Kasai; daughter of Kireina and Jun Kasai." I bowed at the waist to show my respect. "This is my uncle and father's brother Gorudo Kasai." I gestured to my uncle who just nodded his head trying not to break his concentration.
"Your orange hair is so different, but I guess that's why your name is Kabocha, huh!" Ino said pointing rudely at my orange hair. Her tone of voice is what really made my stomach twist. I could almost feel my uncle's eyes burning into my back. My hands clenched into fists at my sides. I could feel the air leaving from my parted lips heating up.
"Hey Ino knock it off." Shikamaru said giving her the side eye. "Yeah, Ino. I think Kabocha's hair is really cool. It's so different!" Choji said grinning at me and making me grin back. All of the tension left my body at his compliment. My turn from jovial to sadistic as I grinned evilly at Ino and all of them gasped. Uncle was right behind me covering my mouth in seconds.
"Alright, enough children. What exactly can we help you with?" Uncle asked and all of them craned their necks to look at my slightly over six feet uncle.
"Oh! We were just coming here to play! Shikamaru usually brings us here so that he can nap, watch clouds, or both!" Ino said loudly smiling at my uncle who probably had the same flat expression he wore when talking to other people besides family….or rather my siblings and my momma. He even wore the expression with father…
"Ah, I see. Well-" I already knew uncle was going to say that we were leaving so that we could continue to mediate and train, but I cut him off immediately.
"You said I could play with Maru-kun and his friends today. Please Uncle can I go now and I promise I will train and meditate later." I turned around to beg and look into his golden eyes.
"Fine Kabocha." I began to jump up and down and cheer, but Uncle put his hand up to silence me which I did immediately. "Only one condition. I have something for you that I need to go retrieve quickly. You have to wear this everyday if you accep-"
"Deal." I said without thinking and he smiled secretively at me. "Alright." He said with a shrug. He formed a ninja seal in front of his chest and disappeared in a swirl of flames.
"Woah! That was so cool!" Ino shouted continuing to give me a headache with her loud voice. "Yeah!" Choji also shouted in agreement.
"Hm. What I want to know is what happened to your teeth? Your canine teeth weren't that sharp yesterday? They're even sharper than the Inuzuka clan." Shikamaru asked taking a step closer to me to look at my mouth. I sucked my lips in and looked away from him. I had brushed my teeth this morning and everything looked normal.
"Your teeth are really sharp, Kabocha-chan." Choji said quietly probably trying not to upset me.
"What are you? Part dog?" Ino snorted making me bear my teeth at her on reflex. She jumped back with a squeal and hid behind Choji. Shikamaru got even closer to my face making me blink my eyes in shock and blush.
"She's not part dog Ino. Her canines are a lot longer than even a dog's." Shikamaru said upon examination to which I leaned back from his probing eyes.
"I don't mean to be rude, but what are you Kabocha-chan?" Choji said now standing next to Shikamaru.
"U-U-uh u-uhmmm." I stuttered out and a swirl of flames appeared in between us. My uncle stood with something in his hands.
"What she is is none of your concern right now." Uncle said with a cold voice facing them. "She will tell you with time." He said that a lot more gentle then his first statement. I also had a feeling that his second statement was meant for Shikamaru.
"S-sorry sir!" Choji said bowing his head and Shikamaru followed suit. I didn't even see Ino behind Choji, so I don't know what she was doing.
"It is quite alright." with that being said my uncle turned to look at me. "This is for you." He said about to hand me a duplication of my momma's armor made just for my little body. I already knew my eyes had stars in them. My momma's battle armor was something I always admired and now I had one.
"Uh, uh, uh." Uncle said waving his index finger at me and retracting the armor before I could touch it. "This is a part of training for you and also a challenge. If you can wear this and also play in it then you can play with your friends. You are not allowed to take it off. If you take it off then you have to mediate for four hours everyday for the next month and training will be tripled. If you can do it then no meditating for the next week. Training will also be cut to every other day rather than every day. Deal?" Uncle said still grinning at me with his secretive smile that was starting to get on my nerves.
"Deal!" I said loudly reaching for the armor. "Okay let me put it on you. Lay on your front." Uncle said placing the front plate piece of the armor on the ground for me to lay on.
I frowned confused. "Huh?" Choji, Ino, and I questioned while Shikamaru yawned. Uncle just gestured towards the front plate with a wave of his hand. I shrugged and layed down on the plate. My uncle secured the back piece and stood back dusting his hands off.
"Wait, where are the shin and arm pieces?" I asked looking at him to my left.
"You'll want to master this piece first before you even think about those pieces. Good luck!" My uncle said once again disappearing in a swirl of flames and...booming laughter that shook me to my core. My eyes widened and I tried to get up...and didn't even budge.
"What did he mean good luck?" Choji asked looking at me.
"I CAN'T MOVE!" I screeched scaring all three of them into action.
"What do you mean you can't move! What did he do!?" Shikamaru shouted in a panic, but he did not move from his spot in front of me. It looked like he was analyzing every single detail from the top of my armor to my feet.
"Here we'll help you up!" Choji also shouted in fear and Ino nodded. Ino had little tears in her eyes and I almost rolled my eyes. I was the one immobilized, but I could understand her fear. If the same had been done to her I would still be afraid for her even though she was kind of mean to me.
Both Choji and Ino rushed over and grabbed me by my arms and tried to haul me up. I let out a scream because of the searing pain in my shoulders.
"Stop! Stop! You're gonna pull her arms off!" Shikamaru rushed forward making them drop my arms to the ground. I put my face back in the dirt and let my tears turn the dirt into mud. My poor, poor arms. I could feel my heartbeat hammering away at my chest almost beating into the armor. I could also hear my heartbeat in my ears. Adrenaline flooded my veins and I choked out a sob as I tried to get up once again and failed.
"This is what he meant when he said good luck..." Shikamaru mumbled going back to assessment of my situation.
"Oh yeah, he did say that! He knew this armor was too heavy!" Ino said snapping her fingers while Choji continued to look concerned.
"Nice deductions," I said hoping I used that word right since I had only heard Tsuyoi say that word once, "but how does that help?"
"Deduc- what?" Choji said tilting his head and Shikamaru face palmed.
"Man, what a drag. How are we supposed to hang out if you can't move?" Shikamaru sighed and looked truly put-out. His defeated and slightly annoyed expression did something to me…
"Listen, you guys, just go and play without me. This is what I get for wanting to skip-"
"NO WAY! Shikamaru was going to introduce us to you anyway, so we're not going to leave you here!" Ino said with a determined.
"Yeah!" Choji cheered after retrieving the chips he had dropped when he came over to yank my arms off...I mean try and help me up.
"Yeah we're not leaving you. In fact, I've got an idea." Shikamaru said smirking at me. I quickly looked at away surprised at the pleasant feeling I got. Especially since I had never seen him smile or smirk of any kind. He just looked bored, lazy, or tired all of the time. "Come on Ino, Choji we're going to roll her onto her back."
"Right!" They both agreed coming over to roll me over. All three of them came over to my right side and placed their hands against the side of the armor. "Alright, Kabocha, he put this on you for a reason. He believes that you should be able to move on your own. With all four of our strength combined we should be able to do it. What do ya say?" Shikamaru's brown eyes met my golden ones and I felt a blush creep up from the back of my neck and attack my cheeks and ears.
"L-let's do this!" I agreed with a grin and he smiled back at me. "Alright, on three. One. Two. Three!" I felt all three of them push and I used all of my little five year old strength to push myself. I made it up and flopped onto my back. A little dust cloud and indentation in the earth were made.
"Oomph!" I wheezed at my body slightly rattled around in the armor. My arms were completely jello as I gasped for air. Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji were all leaning on my armor and huffing and puffing. "Hooray!" I wheezed out slightly lifting my arm.
"Yay!" Ino said regaining her energy. She jumped up and down clapping her hands. "You rolled and I barely even helped!" She shouted giving us a thumbs up making all of us deadpan.
"Seriously you troublesome woman! So only three of us were working hard." Shikamaru huffed clearly annoyed with Ino.
"Um...well…" Choji stuttered rubbing the back of his head. "Not you too Choji. Man, what a drag!" Shikamaru threw his hands in the air.
"I think it's awesome that we moved this heavy armor by ourselves Maru-kun." I grinned at him and looked away from me with a red face. Probably because of the affectionate nickname I gave him.
"Yeah, Maru-kun." Choji said as both him and Ino snickered. "Oh, shut it. What a drag...I'm never going to live that name down." Shikamaru sighed flopping on his back beside me.
"Don't worry. It shouldn't matter what they say since you're my Maru-kun." I turned my head and beamed a smile at him. His blush worsened ten fold.
"Awwww! Our little pumpkin head has a crush on Maru-kun!" Ino squealed flopping down where her head was almost touch mine. Choji began laughing while Shikamaru groaned loudly. All I kept wondering was why they hadn't noticed early when I called him that.
"I do not. He's my first friend and has been nothing but kind to me." I said trying to control my blush.
"Awww Shikamaru." Choji said laughing and lying down with the rest of us. He laid where his head was almost touching Shikamaru's head and next to Ino. We formed a little circle as we looked up at the clouds.
"Hey, Shikamaru, your plan was to turn her on her back so that we could all watch clouds!" Ino said accusatively making me laugh.
"I didn't know you liked to watch clouds, Maru-kun." I said glancing at him then returning my eyes to the cloudy sky. "Then again it makes sense. Watching clouds is a relaxing activity. An activity you can nap to.' I giggled when I heard Shikamaru sigh out, "what a drag."
We laid there going back and forth for almost four hours before my uncle made his reappearance in his usual swirl of flames; which still surprise me considering I didn't know he knew any ninjutsu.
"Well, well, well. I see the farthest you've made it was your back, so it seems more training is in store for you." He said grinning at me making me blow my cheeks out.
"Don't pout. Your friends are more than welcome to come tomorrow and watch the training I'm going to put you through." He said smiling gently at me and my new friends.
"Okay." I sighed still not happy about having to train more when I'd rather play.
"Come along Kabocha we're going home." He said as he removed the armor from my body with ease. All four of us gazed at him in wonder.
"Wow Gorudo-sama you must be really strong to lift that armor." Ino said as Shikamaru observed my uncle.
"Yeah. Kabocha couldn't even move without help." Choji said through a mouth full of chips.
"You and Ino didn't even help." Shikamaru said giving Ino and Choji side eye. My uncle chuckled but looked like he was thinking about something.
"You have exceeded my expectations since Shikamaru was the only one to help you."
"Does that mean I win the bet?"
"No." He said with a deadpan look and all four of us fell over.
"You need more training. Simple as that. You are a princess and future head of the hidden lava village's military. If you want to be as strong as your mother you need to work for it." Uncle said looking me in the eye and I nodded with determination. "Alright, say goodbye to your friends. We will retire home now."
"Bye guys! It was so nice meeting you. I'll be here in this same spot tomorrow if you guys wanna visit me!" I said hugging each of them and then stepping to my uncle's side and taking his hand. They all waved at various levels of enthusiasm.
"Hopefully Shikamaru will show up tomorrow since he can help with your training. Although, I'm sure he'll show up because of a certain someone." Uncle said with a glint in his golden eyes. I was more than ready for training tomorrow, but I couldn't help but wonder what he was talking about.
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Helllloooooo! Thank you so much for reviewing! Special thanks to Star's Dreams, my lovely guest reviewers, and pja2 for reviewing; because of you amazing people I will be posting a chapter in the next 2-3 days. Thanks for reading and see you in a few days!